- Book Thread-

[Dathu]

Like a good member of this guild, before making a new thread, I looked through 10 pages of old threads without finding a general book thread, and I DON'T WANNA ANYMORE, so I'm making this one!



Anyway, so this is the book thread. Whether it be Atheist related or not, this is a good place for recommending a good read or just sharing the love you have for a book with a fellow reader. I know a lot of Twilight readers will be posting here (and yes, I have read all four as well). So post away.

wahmbulance !WARNING! wahmbulance

All spoiler comments should be posted with a warning and in white so the viewer has to go out of their way by highlighting the post to see the text. This isn't a guild rule, but is definitely a much appreciated courtesy on Gaia as a whole.

Example - There is no Santa!!!-




And I'll start. I just read "God Is Dead" by Ron Currie, and let's just say that whether an Atheist or not, it is a good read. It covers a lot of ground that former Theist Atheists are familiar with and offers some unusual views and possibilities. It's not very long, just under 200 pages, and is an easy read (until the dog talks, anyway). If you're looking for an easy Atheist related read that isn't preachy, this is a good place to look.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

I've gotta admit that I'm a Twilight (and Harry Potter) fan, and of course, I get a lot of flack for it. stare

But I like to read "smarter" books as well. In the realm of fantasy, I'm getting into Terry Brooks' Shannara series and finding it to be a good read so far. I've read a murder mystery recently called Mr. Clarinet that was really good, with a quite unexpected ending. Aside from "classic" books that most people have probably read for school at some point (most of which I hated in school and love now), I also enjoy philosophy books (currently reading some essays by Zizek and Spinoza) and science books (Dawkins is a nice one and I also enjoy books like The God Gene which shine some light on why people are so predisposed to cling to irrational religious beliefs).

As far as atheist books go, I rather like Atheism: The Case Against God, from which I've quoted in this guild more than once, and Letter to a Christian Nation was good as well if I recall.

 

[Zambimaru]

I rarely ever read novels. Mangas are what I like to read. But I just started reading the Earagon books and so far I'm really enjoying it. Right now I'm on the third book.  

[PathlessPlot]

Oh man, I love to read. My bookshelf is overflowing. For those fantasy lovers I really recommend Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, or Jaqueline Carey's books (the ones that start with Kushiel... I don't think there is a series name, but I haven't read her other series). For sci-fi, Heinlein is an excellent author (I try to push Stranger in a Strange Land to everyone I know). The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman is a really good book too. Terry Brooks is a pretty good author. Um....Stephen King's It is a terrifying book. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz is kinda thrilling and funny (and will make you hungry, he spends paragraphs describing different kinds of tasty treats). sweatdrop I'm sure I can think of more, but this is all I will put for now. Has anyone else read Kushiel's Dart and the books that follow?  

[Dark_lord_15]

Oooh... I read a lot! But most of mine is just juvenile fiction, if you can dig that...

Recommend:
An Abundance of Katherines-- John Green
The Book Thief-- Markus Zusak
Harry Potter-- JK Rowling
His Dark Materials-- Phillip Pullman


razz my list sorta sucks, but that's just how it goes

 

[Belthasar727]

Books on atheism (that I've read):



Books on atheism (that I'm going to read):



Books I'm reading right now:



And when I'm done with those two I'm going to hit Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate and Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene.

I mostly like reading books on language, in particular Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue are really good, although the latter is already kind of outdated.  

[Dathu]

I think I read some of "The Mother Tongue" way back in the day. When you say outdated, do you mean that some of the theories have been shown unlikely?

Daffodil the Destroyer

I've gotta admit that I'm a Twilight (and Harry Potter) fan, and of course, I get a lot of flack for it. stare

But I like to read "smarter" books as well. In the realm of fantasy, I'm getting into Terry Brooks' Shannara series and finding it to be a good read so far. I've read a murder mystery recently called Mr. Clarinet that was really good, with a quite unexpected ending. Aside from "classic" books that most people have probably read for school at some point (most of which I hated in school and love now), I also enjoy philosophy books (currently reading some essays by Zizek and Spinoza) and science books (Dawkins is a nice one and I also enjoy books like The God Gene which shine some light on why people are so predisposed to cling to irrational religious beliefs).

As far as atheist books go, I rather like Atheism: The Case Against God, from which I've quoted in this guild more than once, and Letter to a Christian Nation was good as well if I recall.

I've been a member of the "faith has a gene" theory far before "The God Gene" was published, and yet I have still yet to read it. I really don't know what I'm waiting for, but I know I need to read that book soon.

Zambimaru

I rarely ever read novels. Mangas are what I like to read. But I just started reading the Earagon books and so far I'm really enjoying it. Right now I'm on the third book.

I used to read comic books when I was younger, but I have yet to read an entire manga series. Although, I just started Rosario + Vampire. Someone told me the manga was better than the anime, so I bought the first two compilations last weekend. So far so good.

Granny Duck

Oh man, I love to read. My bookshelf is overflowing. For those fantasy lovers I really recommend Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, or Jaqueline Carey's books (the ones that start with Kushiel... I don't think there is a series name, but I haven't read her other series). For sci-fi, Heinlein is an excellent author (I try to push Stranger in a Strange Land to everyone I know). The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman is a really good book too. Terry Brooks is a pretty good author. Um....Stephen King's It is a terrifying book. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz is kinda thrilling and funny (and will make you hungry, he spends paragraphs describing different kinds of tasty treats). sweatdrop I'm sure I can think of more, but this is all I will put for now. Has anyone else read Kushiel's Dart and the books that follow?

There are a ton of Dean Koontz novels in my house. They are favorites here. I haven't read them yet. Maybe I'll see if we have "Life Expectancy" lying around.

Dark_lord_15

Oooh... I read a lot! But most of mine is just juvenile fiction, if you can dig that...

Recommend:
An Abundance of Katherines-- John Green
The Book Thief-- Markus Zusak
Harry Potter-- JK Rowling
His Dark Materials-- Phillip Pullman


razz my list sorta sucks, but that's just how it goes

Aht! I will not read the Harry Potters until they have all been made into movies. Even though the last HP film sucked, I still like the movies enough that I don't want to hate them just yet, and I know as soon as I read the books and see how much better they are than the films, I will do just that.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

His Dark Materials was one I forgot to mention... I love that trilogy. Too bad they completely butchered the first movie and then apparently forgot about making the other two. Silly little sheltered Americans who are afraid of fictional novels.

 

[PathlessPlot]

Generally I will absolutely refuse to go see a movie that was made after a book. Most of them make me want to cry because they have been completely butchered from anything resembling what the book said. Although, The Green Mile was very good as book and movie. There are a few others I think, but I can't remember them now.  

[Belthasar727]

I just finished The Stuff of Thought, now I'm reading The Blank Slate.

Dathu

I think I read some of "The Mother Tongue" way back in the day. When you say outdated, do you mean that some of the theories have been shown unlikely?

Some of the examples he uses are already out of date (mostly stuff that changes rapidly, like slang) and Pinker points out that he got a few of his assumptions wrong (about swearing I believe). Also it was written in 1990 before the Internet took off and had a major influence on the English language. It would be cool if he wrote a revised version, it's still a very good book. I heard about it from John McWhorter's Great Courses lecture where he kept using it as a source.

I have two of his other books: Made in America and A History of Nearly Everything, neither of which I have read yet.  

[Dark_lord_15]

Dathu

Aht! I will not read the Harry Potters until they have all been made into movies. Even though the last HP film sucked, I still like the movies enough that I don't want to hate them just yet, and I know as soon as I read the books and see how much better they are than the films, I will do just that.

GAH! I hate it when people wait for the movie! You're destroying the entire point of the series (and it's the best series EVER!!!!!!)

 

[Dathu]

Granny Duck

Generally I will absolutely refuse to go see a movie that was made after a book. Most of them make me want to cry because they have been completely butchered from anything resembling what the book said. Although, The Green Mile was very good as book and movie. There are a few others I think, but I can't remember them now.

Dark_lord_15

Dathu

Aht! I will not read the Harry Potters until they have all been made into movies. Even though the last HP film sucked, I still like the movies enough that I don't want to hate them just yet, and I know as soon as I read the books and see how much better they are than the films, I will do just that.

GAH! I hate it when people wait for the movie! You're destroying the entire point of the series (and it's the best series EVER!!!!!!)

I am a film fan first, a novel lover second. I always watch the film first. Often I see a film just because it's based off a novel, and read a novel because I heard it was made into a film, then depending on whether the preview looks good, I may read or watch one or the other first. I read the "Da Vinci Code" first, because the previews looked crappy, but I was so disappointed with the book that I didn't see the film. Needless to say I have no desire to experience Angles and Demons as neither a book nor a film.

Anyway, I'll get around to the Harry Potters sooner or later. Which reminds me, The Hobbit novel = awesome, The Lord of The Rings trilogy novels = boring. Soooo glad I watched those movies first. If I had read the books first, I would've had no desire to see the films.  

[Dark_lord_15]

Dathu

Granny Duck

Generally I will absolutely refuse to go see a movie that was made after a book. Most of them make me want to cry because they have been completely butchered from anything resembling what the book said. Although, The Green Mile was very good as book and movie. There are a few others I think, but I can't remember them now.

Dark_lord_15

Dathu

Aht! I will not read the Harry Potters until they have all been made into movies. Even though the last HP film sucked, I still like the movies enough that I don't want to hate them just yet, and I know as soon as I read the books and see how much better they are than the films, I will do just that.

GAH! I hate it when people wait for the movie! You're destroying the entire point of the series (and it's the best series EVER!!!!!!)

I am a film fan first, a novel lover second. I always watch the film first. Often I see a film just because it's based off a novel, and read a novel because I heard it was made into a film, then depending on whether the preview looks good, I may read or watch one or the other first. I read the "Da Vinci Code" first, because the previews looked crappy, but I was so disappointed with the book that I didn't see the film. Needless to say I have no desire to experience Angles and Demons as neither a book nor a film.

Anyway, I'll get around to the Harry Potters sooner or later. Which reminds me, The Hobbit novel = awesome, The Lord of The Rings trilogy novels = boring. Soooo glad I watched those movies first. If I had read the books first, I would've had no desire to see the films.

The Hobbit was pretty awesome! I actually tried to read LOTR, but I got 400 pages into the first one and put it down... that was two years ago and I'm still afraid to pick it back up, lol
I guess watching the movie first isn't the core of evil, but it's sorta annoying... hahaha, if I had seen Twilight first then I could have saved myself 4 books of crappiness and a lot of sanity.

Have you seen the Golden Compass? I absolutely LOVED those books, so I'm kinda afraid of the movie because there is no way that it could do the book justice.

 

[Dathu]

I did see it. Although, I was surprised that it wasn't as "Pro-Atheism" as the zealots made it seem. All I heard on the news was how Theists were protesting it, saying "it tells us to kill God!" I went with high hopes of seeing a huge parody of the evils of religion, but left feeling like I'd just watch another kids film. I seriously think the zealots overreacted to that one. Anyway, the film was alright. It had the usual really-good-book-to-film problem of feeling like too much information was crammed into to little time. I've thought about reading the books, but usually if I don't like the film, I'm not too inclined to read the books. But if you say they are really that good, I may give them another chance.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the States) wasn't too controversial of a book in the first place, but the movie watered it down even more. The second and third books in the trilogy are the ones that really focus on the "killing God" aspect. I think it's a brilliant series, much better than the movie.