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newinseoul
Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Location: Busan
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 Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:12 am Post subject: |
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A lot of the great writers were already listed. I have a mix of writers I enjoy depending on my mood. More recent fiction reads include
John Irving -very descriptive with a little twisted sexuality in there
Paul Coelho - The Alchemist is an all time favorite
James Redfield - The Celestine Prophecies series - adventure esoteric |
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:28 am Post subject: |
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| Babayaga wrote: |
Actually, I got the name from the Russian folk tales. Babayaga is an interesting folk character, in that she can be both evil as well as kind and wise. Depends on who comes into contact with her---good, pure--hearted people benefit from associating with her, whereas evil people are punished. That is not quite my character, though, although annoying people do bring out the worst in me. |
The story of Enchantment is sort of a modern take on the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. A young russian boy, while waiting with his family to flee the country in the early seventies is exploring the woods in the Ukraine near his uncles farm and finds a beautiful woman sleeping on a pedestool over a huge pit filled with leaves. Something large and terrifying is under the leaves and scares him off but it haunts him for a long time. When he's in his early 20's he returns to Russia to do some under-grad work and after spending years convincing himself it was some sort of dream, visits the forest again and is inadvertantly transported back to Russia about 900 a.d. Baba Yaga is the villian of the story. The evil witch of the sleeping beauty tale. It also offers an interesting view on how she got her house that walked around on legs 
| Babayaga wrote: |
| AbbeFaria wrote: |
My all time favorite writer is probably Orson Scott Card.
Also, Nicholson Baker tells a very good story. The Fermata and Vox are great books. Alexander Dumas, also. Edgar Allan Poe. Cask of Amantialldo(I know I spelled that wrong) is just one of many great stories.
Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Haydon, Peter F. Hamilton, Nancy A. Collins, . [color=blue]Laurel Hamilton. [/color]Steve Martin (yes the actor) wrote a great novel called The Pleasure of My Company.
I don't know that I have a 'least favorite' but one I have grown to dislike is Terry Goodkind. He started a very good fantasy series then turned it to crap. Very disapointing. I also dislike Edith [/color[color=blue]]Wharton, but then again, I'm a guy so I suppose that's expected. Her writing is entirely to...feminist for me to get involved with her charachters. She writes beautifully, but I just don't care about the story.
-S- |
The writers I underlined in blue are totally unfamiliar to me. Are they mostly fantasy/horror writers?
In general, I dislike crude horror stories, like Anne Rice's books or similar. But I enjoyed Bram Stoker's "Dracula" because of its haunting, mysterious atmosphere. It was tastefully written.
I actually have degrees in French Literature and Slavic Literature and am not that familiar with modern/modernist American Lit. or popular books. |
With the exception of Poe, Edith Wharton, and Dumas, they aren't classics. I never got around to reading as much classic lit as I wanted to. Edith Wharton is classic feminist prose. All about the struggles of women during the victorian era. Laurell K. Hamilton and Nancy A. Collins write in the vampire genre. I never read Anne Rice, and don't plan to. I've heard from too many sources I trust that she really isn't that good.
Neil Gaimen writes fantasy, but not like traditional fantasy. I don't know what other catagory he fits under though. Peter F. Hamilton is Sci-Fi. Nicholson Baker writes contempory novels, although The Fermata has somewhat of a fantasy bend. It's about a guy who can stop time.
Elizabeth Haydon wrote an exceptional fantasy series beginning with Rhapsody:Child of Blood. Any fantasy readers out there who haven't heard of her or read it are strongly advised to do so. One of the best I've ever read. She's been compared by more then one critic to Tolkien and Lewis.
Terry Goodkind was one of the first Fantasy writers I was exposed to when I was a kid and I really enjoyed his Sword of Truth series for awhile then he began using the books to explore his own personal philosophies about life and politics and it got very long winded and reptitive. In a nutshell, he got very full of himself.
| oneiros wrote: |
If you tell me you've gotten hold of a copy of Neil Gaiman's book, I'll be incredibly jealous. If mine doesn't come in the mail soon, I'm going to die. (Okay, that's probably an exaggeration. Probably.) |
Which one? The last one I bought was American Gods. I don't follow him that closely, but if I see a new book by him, I usually pick it up. Neverwhare and Stardust were good.
| krats1976 wrote: |
[color=darkblue]
I don't know about most of the others, but I'm also a big OSC fan. Seems like people either have never heard of him or have read almost anything he's ever written.
He was most famous for sci-fi, but he's also been putting out some interesting fantasy type stuff lately. He's also started writing some religious fiction--mostly focusing on characters from the Old Testament.
My favorites are Enchantment and Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus(probably because it focuses on historians--the least likely of heroes!  ). Ender's Game and its sequals are pretty well-known, but the parallel series, starting with Ender's Shadow, is much more interesting IMO.
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Don't know if your aware or not, but they've been trying for the last several years to get Ender's Game made into a movie. Wolfgang Peterson is signed on to direct, and as far as I know, they're just waiting for final script aproval to start casting. They're also working on getting Homebody made in to a movie as well. Just a little FYI.
-S- |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:36 am Post subject: |
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from Latin America:
Garcia Marquez
Carlos Fuentes
Vargas Llosa
from sci-fi:
I really enjoyed Kim Stanley Robbinson's writing in the Mars trilogy
Frank Herbert is a master in the Dune series
the Russians:
Dostoevsky
Tolstoy
I'm citing books and authors who I've read so many times I've lost count, but I'll read them a hundred more times if I can get away with it.
I don't have any "least favorites" although I hated reading the SubAltern Studies Group (the Indian postcolonialists). Someone once called the language the poststructuralists use "fashionable nonsense" -- and I wholeheartedly agree with that. |
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Babayaga
Joined: 28 May 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="Gopher"]
from sci-fi
I really enjoyed Kim Stanley Robbinson's writing in the Mars trilogy
Frank Herbert is a master in the Dune series
the Russians:
Dostoyevsky
Tolstoy
Have you ever read Aelita by Aleksey Tolstoy? It's sci-fi written in the 1920's and set on Mars.
Count Aleksey Tolstoy is a distant relative of Count Leo Tolstoy. |
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chipotle
Joined: 30 May 2005
Location: brooklyn
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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Nick Hornby and Jack Kerouac were already mentioned, but I have to give them another nod. Nick Hornby has such a way with words- he manages to put onto paper those thoughts that everyone seems to have but are too afraid to admit- mostly selfish, always funny, but usually (like it or not) true.
Tim O'Brien is pretty good if you like war stories- he was in Vietnam and does some very interesting things when it comes to point-of-view.
Also, Dean Koontz. Purely for mindless reading purposes- I'm addicted to his books because they're great escape reads and his characters just make you feel good, despite the horror/sci fi stuff going on in the story. I'v found they're great books to read if you're feeling homesick.
Don't have any least favorites- I usually enjoy what I read. |
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oneiros
Joined: 19 Aug 2003
Location: Villa Straylight
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| AbbeFaria wrote: |
| oneiros wrote: |
If you tell me you've gotten hold of a copy of Neil Gaiman's book, I'll be incredibly jealous. If mine doesn't come in the mail soon, I'm going to die. (Okay, that's probably an exaggeration. Probably.) |
Which one? The last one I bought was American Gods. I don't follow him that closely, but if I see a new book by him, I usually pick it up. Neverwhare and Stardust were good. |
The new one is Anansi Boys. It's only been out for a couple of weeks, which is probably why you haven't heard of it yet (unless you're one of those hopeless addicts like me that needs to check Neil Gaiman's blog at www.neilgaiman.com everyday.) |
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krats1976
Joined: 14 May 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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| AbbeFaria wrote: |
Don't know if your aware or not, but they've been trying for the last several years to get Ender's Game made into a movie. Wolfgang Peterson is signed on to direct, and as far as I know, they're just waiting for final script aproval to start casting. They're also working on getting Homebody made in to a movie as well. Just a little FYI.
-S- |
I'd heard about Ender's Game, but not Homebody. I think both would make pretty cool movies.
I started hearing talk about a film version of Ender's Game years ago. The rumor is that the screenwriters are having a hard time making a PG-13 script out of it and Card (an active Latter-day Saint) won't allow his book to be released as an "R" movie. |
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alicat_blue
Joined: 09 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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William Gibson-Neuromancer, cyberpunk classic.
'Brave New World' is one of my all time favorite books.
Charles Dickens kicked out a few top notch classics.
C.J. Cherryh (spelling?)
Not that anyone cares, but I say the less books they make into movies, the better.
Last edited by alicat_blue on Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Keepongoing
Joined: 13 Feb 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:28 pm Post subject: hmm |
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| I love Bernard Cornwell's Maritime series. |
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wwidgirl
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:35 am Post subject: |
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| krats1976 wrote: |
| Babayaga wrote: |
| AbbeFaria wrote: |
My all time favorite writer is probably Orson Scott Card.
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The writers I underlined in blue are totally unfamiliar to me. Are they mostly fantasy/horror writers?
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I don't know about most of the others, but I'm also a big OSC fan. Seems like people either have never heard of him or have read almost anything he's ever written.
He was most famous for sci-fi, but he's also been putting out some interesting fantasy type stuff lately. He's also started writing some religious fiction--mostly focusing on characters from the Old Testament.
My favorites are Enchantment and Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus(probably because it focuses on historians--the least likely of heroes! ). Ender's Game and its sequals are pretty well-known, but the parallel series, starting with Ender's Shadow, is much more interesting IMO.
I've been reading a lot of young adult fiction lately since I teach middle school language arts, and there are so many great new books and authors in that area. I especially like Sharon Creech and Lois Lowry. I'm currently reading the house of the scorpion by Nancy Farmer. It's also quite good. I'm hoping to get ahold of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart soon... if I can ever wrestle it away from our students!! I think we need about 4 more copies in our library. |
Ditto on the OSC thing. I love him. And I loved pastwatch. Never read Enchantment though... strange that.
I like Rohinton Mistry- a fine balance is my favorite book.
Wally Lamb is good too; although I've only read "I know this much is true" and "she's come undone". |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:56 am Post subject: |
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Favorites, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kurt Vonnegut (back when he was still Jr.), and Umberto Eco. Wally Lamb has written to solid novels, She's Come Undone and This Much I Know is True. The latter read a lot like Dave Eggaers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius for some reason.
Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is fantastic. I hate comic books but it really drew me in.
I hated Paul Coelho's The Alchemist. What a bunch of hooey. Follow your dream. Yeah, brilliant.
I'm starting to not like Chuck Palahniuk. I read Survivor, I saw the movie Fight Club, and I'm reading Choke right now. I'm getting the feeling Palahniuk is the male Margaret Atwood. Atwood basically takes the same 5 female characters, shuffles them with a deck of basic plots, and then writes a novel. The characters all seem kind of the same in the Palahniuk works I know about. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:16 am Post subject: |
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Although some of it is proven fabrication, Papillon by Henri Charriere is altogether gripping, and i'd have to mention another favorite "The count of monte Christo" ( Alexandre Dumas) in the same breath.
Nabokov's Lolita is hard to beat for self serving humor and all round farcical comedy. Evelyn Waugh rode the wave of sardonic nihilism with "A handful of dust". Frome the same era I like "The quiet American" by Graham Greene and Christopher Isherwood is faintly ridiculous and amusing in "Goodbye to Berlin". Jack kerouac 's "The road" reminds me happily of my backpacking days.
All time favorite read is still the profound and touch philosophic "A passage to India' by E.M Forster. I also like the rugged yet medieval quality of "Ivanhoe"- Sir Walter Scott.
Paul coehlo ,s "Alchemist" failed to impress me at all, far too stylised. For the poetic and almost absurdly deep, i do enjoy Kahlil Gibran's "the prophet". |
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Maserial
Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Location: The Web
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| rapier wrote: |
| Nabokov's Lolita is hard to beat for self serving humor and all round farcical comedy. |
Quite true, although my favorite Nabokov work is definitely Mary, just because it does such a fantastic job of illustrating how detrimental memory can be to an individual. (To all the perfect people out there, however, it would certainly be a horrendous read.)
Nonetheless, Nabokov is a great author. |
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hojucandy
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
Location: In a better place
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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salman rushdie has been my favourite ever since i first picked up his book "shame". i love his verbal style - he writes just like an indian speaks - long convuluted stories full of ridiculous digressions and almost goon-show humour. his books about india are the best. his recent novels, which are more about the west, are not as good IMO.
least favourite... hhmmmm... hard to say. there are many writers i have tried to read but did not persist as i found the book boring.. all of the russians for instance. |
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shortskirt_longjacket
Joined: 06 Jun 2004
Location: fitz and ernie are my raison d'etre
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Tiberious aka Sparkles wrote: |
Dostoevsky
Maugham
London
Sparkles*_* |
How can a guy who claims to hate Hemingway so much like London? |
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