Silvertongue
Headmaster/Headmistress
I've got Slytherin Pride
Posts: 1,595
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Post by Silvertongue on Jul 18, 2012 6:25:14 GMT -5
HATE Lord of the Flies - William Golding Had to study this book for English and got so sick of it by the end of the year. Same here, other classes got to study the better book IMO. I find this book to be very unrealistic. I think my experience with it wasn't helped by the fact that my 50-ish year old teacher was a bit of a perv towards the boys in my class while reading this. I remember, she said to this one guy "I can see you running around naked on an island". She was so creepy. Can't believe I forgot to mention this book. Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan That has got to be one of the sweetest, saddest books I've ever read. It's set a few hundred years ago, I think, and it's quite short, but it deserves so much more love than it gets (I only know one other person who has read it and that's only because I suggested it). I don't want to say what it's about because that wiould sort of spoil it, but it involves a deaf child that the village thinks is possessed by a demon. |
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Post by physicssquid on Jul 18, 2012 7:30:28 GMT -5
I read that too, and while I liked it when I read it, I don't know whether I'd like it now.
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Silvertongue
Headmaster/Headmistress
I've got Slytherin Pride
Posts: 1,595
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Post by Silvertongue on Jul 18, 2012 10:39:10 GMT -5
I hadn't read it in about 5 years but I re-read it recently and I still love it. My sister did, too.
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Post by viralic1 on Jul 18, 2012 12:19:05 GMT -5
Two really good little known books I can't get out of my mind are Kerosene and Fighting Ruben Wolfe.
Kerosene is about a boy who suffers from pyromania and an intense shyness trying to get through life, while dealing with his high school classmates who thinks its a funny game to wind him up and freak him out.
Fighting Ruben Wolfe is about two brothers who live in a crappy neighborhood with a father who can't work, and they enter an illegal boxing ring to make money to help their family. It's less about the fighting, and more about the stress of their family life.
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Post by voice-on-the-wind on Jul 18, 2012 15:04:52 GMT -5
I like too many books to name, though anything by Tamora Pierce is definitely up top.
As for what I hate, that's a lot easier lol:
Lord of the Flies (from school, like a lot of others)
Great Expectations (too 'grey' for me)
Life of Pi (I had to read it twice, too >.<)
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Post by Ithiarel on Jul 18, 2012 15:25:47 GMT -5
Life of Pi (I had to read it twice, too >.<) "Life of Pi" is really bad. Lukily I only had to read it once (in a university class). How it won the Booker Prize will forever be shrouded in mystery... |
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Post by G. Novella on Jul 18, 2012 15:28:02 GMT -5
... I guess I'm the only Pi fan on here, they're making it into a movie... I'm really excited... I can understand the fact that it's really flowery and drags a bit, but his delusions... Well, yeah. I loved the read.
But I love Tamora Pierce too Voice! She's one of my favorite authors!
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Post by Ithiarel on Jul 18, 2012 15:36:48 GMT -5
I feel that "Pi" would have done okay being a short novella... but as it was, the pacing was horrible. Add to that the fact that I just couldn't relate to the little idiot... well, it's no wonder I can't stand the book.
I loved the last part - when the narrative perspective changed to the two investigators. But Pi as narrator? *shudders* No. Thanks.
Aside from "Life of Pi", I think the single most horrible book I've ever been forced to read was "Der Untertan" by Heinrich Mann.
Actually, scratch that. I never managed to read it. I got stuck somewhere around the forth chapter, and went on strike. I wasn't the only one. Everyone in my class refused to read that book - even though we all knew that it would be part of our Abitur. *rofl*
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Post by G. Novella on Jul 18, 2012 15:43:27 GMT -5
The story of Pi was what compelled me. The pacing I agree was awkward but the theological aspects and the severity of his delusions kept my interest. There were quite a few scenes I enjoyed reading, like the comparisons between the religion and the aspects of the zoo-life. I'm really excited for the movie. If it's done well, and it looks like it will be, it is definitely going to be worth the watch.
Anything done by Austen or the Bronte sisters is my worst read. All those women make cliche romances so dull, and considering the material they're working with is dull, well, it's just terrible over all.
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Post by physicssquid on Jul 18, 2012 15:48:01 GMT -5
Urgh, I hate anything by the Bronte sisters and Austen too. Their books have no meat in them.
The only book from the same time as they were writing that I actually like at all is HG Wells' Time Machine, and even with that one, I prefer the movie.
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Post by voice-on-the-wind on Jul 18, 2012 16:07:08 GMT -5
I don't know what put Life of Pi off for me, since I did appreciate some of the scenes too. I'm definitely a trust your gut/feelings person, and the 'sense' just wasn't there in that book. It might have stayed at an indifferent level had I not been required to read it the second time around.
Then again, I'm also a fan of Chaucer in it's original Middle English, so I may not totally be sane.
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Post by dracosfairmaiden on Jul 18, 2012 16:25:59 GMT -5
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is actually pretty good considering it was written in the 1800's. I hated the Bronte sisters novels though.
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Post by codygotkilld on Jul 18, 2012 16:45:17 GMT -5
I Am Legend is a pretty good book IMO. Believe it or not the first time I read the book was in high school for a book report. I think a lot of people just think of the Will smith movie and tend to ignore it thinking it was exactly like that.
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Silvertongue
Headmaster/Headmistress
I've got Slytherin Pride
Posts: 1,595
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Post by Silvertongue on Jul 19, 2012 7:22:55 GMT -5
I didn't even know that was a book...
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Post by codygotkilld on Jul 19, 2012 16:48:26 GMT -5
Oh yeah, it a big book for horror writers when it comes to influence. Here is what is in the summary for it's wikipedia page:
I Am Legend is a 1954 horror fiction novel by American writer Richard Matheson. It was influential in the development of the zombie genre and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease. The novel was a success and was adapted to film as The Last Man on Earth in 1964, as The Omega Man in 1971, and as I Am Legend in 2007, along with a direct-to-video 2007 production capitalizing on that film, I Am Omega. The novel was also the inspiration behind the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.
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Post by sprigofmoonlace on Jul 21, 2012 20:33:48 GMT -5
Books I love?
Harry Potter series ;D
Percy Jackson series
The Hunger Games
The Vampire Diaries
Books I hate?
Any that my english classes hand out (The Cone Gatherers, Cal, etc). They practically were a chore to read. - I liked the Crucible, if you want to count that, since technically it was in a book
Twilight - didn't use to hate it, first bought it when I was twelve and the first movie was released. Now, the books just annoy me. Especially the last one.
Theres a few books that I've been like, meh not so good, but I don't hate them yet.
Would anyone recommend the Secret Circle books? I saw them in the book shop but wasn't sure about them.
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