a really thrilling new book is the straw men
also nones mentioned a song of ice and fire
i mean in essence they both are really cool and dont suck

Imitation Saccharin :

Well, in fairness, they might be giants

I wonder if that's where They Might Be Giants got their name from.

Recently I've been reading Watership Down and Sinclair's The Jungle.

Problem is, I never can put enough time away to finish them.

To anyone into Kafka, are his novels worth reading? From what I've heard they are all incomplete and were released post-humously against his wishes. 'The Trial' seems to have been complete enough to prompt Orson Welles to have made a film of it, but reading a novel which finishes mid-sentence doesn't really appeal to me.

"Earthly Powers" by Anthony Burgess is good. If slightly sick and depressing. Then again he wrote Clockwork Orange so it's not suprising. It has the best first line of any novel as well.

"Foucault's pendulum" by Umberto Eco is also good. Think of it as "The Da Vinci Code" but better, funnier and less self-absorbed.

pigeon_of_doom:
To anyone into Kafka, are his novels worth reading? From what I've heard they are all incomplete and were released post-humously against his wishes. 'The Trial' seems to have been complete enough to prompt Orson Welles to have made a film of it, but reading a novel which finishes mid-sentence doesn't really appeal to me.

Well, I know that The Metamorphosis is a complete work by Kafka. He wrote the whole thing in a matter of days and submitted it to a magazine or something. I therefore recommend that one to you- it is definitely worth reading, especially because it is about how a man gets transformed into a giant dung beetle.

I haven't read any other works by Kafka, though, so I wouldn't know about them...

I'm an avid reader of Terry Pratchett's fiction. Read most books, reading some even now. I like his wit and humor, as well as the general charm of his books. Really, a fantastic author. I'm still quite unhappy about him having Alzheimer's. Sigh.

I'm also a fan of the classical authors, such as Homer. I read plenty of the mythical tales in my youth and sometimes still do. "The Odyssey" is one of my favorite books ever.

Goethe is also on the table, because I love "Faust" (The book, not the person).

E.M.Remarque is also one of my favorite authors, and I've read a lot of his book. "Three friends" was a shining example of excellence in an otherwise uninteresting selection of literature.

R.G.Grant's "Battles" is also a good book, since I am quite interested in history.

J.R.R.Tolkien has also occupied a place on my "favorite authors" list, mostly because of "Hobbit", which was just so well written and immersive that I spent most of my childhood reading his fiction.

Andrew Robinsons "The Story of Writing" also is an excellent, and slightly humorous, take on the evolution of writing.

W.Hauff was a major writer when I was little, and I thoroughly enjoy his novels and stories to this day.

In short: Books are awesome.

No one has mentioned Critchton yet? I like his books, very Hollywood style thriller, a bit predictable, but still a few hours of good entertainment.

On the thoughtful sci-fi front, I recommend Isaac Asimov, he wrote "I robot" and many excellent short stories, my fav being "Professions", which is an interesting take on the education system.

I'm not really into fiction and literature and all that, much prefer the real world. The truth is often much more bizzare and thrilling than fiction. Recommend:

"Age of Oil" -- Leonardo Maugeri
The top man at the world's 6th largest multinational oil corporation Eni tells you all about the history and present of our oil production and consumption, and does an excellent job of putting things into context.

Labyrinth:

H.R.Shovenstuff:

John Galt:
I intend to acquire a copy of Mein Kampf and Das Kapital but I'm not sure I can be seen with those books and not be put on some sort of government watch list.

I hate the fact Das Kapital is used in te same sentance as Mein Kampf, but hey. As for Das Kapital, I have several copies as my parents are socialists and sell them on stands at rallies etc. I am yet to read it but am working my way up to it. I'm pretty sure you won't go on any government list if you get this book. As for Mein Kampf, I think you will.

Only one term applies here: Thought Police.

Our school library has a copy of Mein Kampf, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Unless it's illegal in the US, which I'm not sure of. But I doubt it.

Graustein:
Our school library has a copy of Mein Kampf, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Unless it's illegal in the US, which I'm not sure of. But I doubt it.

Mein Kampf and Das Kapital are fun to mention together. The opposing ideologies tend to generate a lot of literary heat which can be used to power the engines of creativity and genius.

And I've yet to find copies of either in my school library. I think I'll just buy them.

Labyrinth:

Graustein:
Our school library has a copy of Mein Kampf, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Unless it's illegal in the US, which I'm not sure of. But I doubt it.

Mein Kampf and Das Kapital are fun to mention together. The opposing ideologies tend to generate a lot of literary heat which can be used to power the engines of creativity and genius.

And I've yet to find copies of either in my school library. I think I'll just buy them.

I need to read them at one point. I tried reading Mein Kampf but Hitler is one long-winded author. I read the first chapter and couldn't bear the thought of several hundred more pages of the like.

pigeon_of_doom:
To anyone into Kafka, are his novels worth reading? From what I've heard they are all incomplete and were released post-humously against his wishes. 'The Trial' seems to have been complete enough to prompt Orson Welles to have made a film of it, but reading a novel which finishes mid-sentence doesn't really appeal to me.

Kafka is amazing, but not everyone would like him cause its often quite slow.

I'll just mention a few authors and one book each by them. Its kinda hard for me cause I've read practically everything by them all...

Will Self (Book of Dave), JG Ballard (High Rise), Philip k Dick (Flow My Tears The Policeman Said), Kurt Vonnegut (Welcome to the Monkey House), Iain Banks (The Wasp Factory), Bret Easton Ellis (The Informers), Craig Clevenger (Contortionist Handbook), HP Lovecraft (Any collection).

All these books and authors are amazing in my opinion. And my opinion is correct.

you know whats amazing no one has mentioned(how do i spell this?) thomas ligiotti?
he is a great writer and his works are amazing.
and i know that his one everyone has read but i also like steven king. just read the gunslinger. it is a great book

I want to become an author, I've got ideas in my head of a fantasy world and the myths of its people.
Since this is the literature thread, couldn't I post what I've typed up so far?

How do you do the spoiler tags, so I won't take up room, just in case.

On topic though.
The best book I've read in a while is American Gods.
Though it may just be because it has gods in it and I'm crazy about mythology.

So it took a while, but I finally managed to find the right grave to dig up and resurrect this thread. There is a point to this as well.

Today I read a book which shocked and moved me to tears.

It was not a collection of essays about how consumerism is the end of the evolutionary ladder, but something far more real. The Rape Of Nanking (the forgotten holocaust of WWII) is a historical and journalistic examination of the actions of the Japanese army during their WWII invasion of China. It contains recounts of what the sources quoted term "worse tortures than were committed by the Nazis in Germany," and with good reason. This book contains vivid descriptions of mass murder, killing games and horrific rape perpetrated on civilians and surrendered army troops in the Chinese capital (Ex-capital as of its capture by Japanese forces). One such is transcribed below.

Aside from a detailed examination of the horror itself, including many other reports of suffering forced upon innocent people regardless of age or physical well being, the book contains an examination of the psychological side, both that of the soldiers who perpetrated such things, and of the government officials. Other things included are a reflection on the propaganda of the time, both in Nanking and in Japan. The later includes the censorship of school textbooks to avoid stating that Japanese forces had committed such things, and an almost total literary blackout of the ordeal once the International Military Tribunal for the Far East had passed.

Another fun thing is that an estimated 360,000 people were slaughtered during this occupation. Over about 6 weeks. Accurate numbers of the raped and otherwise injured are difficult to attain due to the shame and horror experienced by victims, especially those who found themselves pregnant.

I'll leave the rest to those who wish to read this book. It is not the only one on the topic, but I have not had the chance to read the others. In a true demonstration of the obscurity of this event, I had not even heard of the Rape of Nanking until today. Not a single textbook I've read in history mentions it.

Edit: I forgot to mention the author/investigator. Oops. Written and researched by Iris Chang.

i tried reading 1984 once but somebody stole my copy! the only "litriture" style book i can think of is "nine tomorrows" by issac asimov. (if you find a copy then dont read the last story in it, it really sucks and kind of spoils the book) also read Journey to the center of the eart, but it seemed like old pop fluff to me, with little depth. lots of litriture i find boring, and sometime i think that some people carry on about litriture just to be "intillectuall" and not because it is any good. it may very well be that i shoud read more into the classics, but i think that english at school ruined it for me...

The silmarillion, which is a compilation of notes written by that master of English J.R.R. Tolkien and assembled by his son Christopher. As an admitted bibliophile I have to say that this is by far my favorite book. It is an amazing work that outlines the history of the world from its creation by Eru to the start of the third age and with everything in between. It gives the feel of reading older texts on mythology which is no coincidence considering Tolkiens work on things such as Beowulf and Sir Gwane and the green knight.

The sad thing is that nobody has read this book around me, they all seem to be unable to finish it. I really think though more people should pick it up. Aside from all of the wonderful works of Tolkien I would have to say his friend and contemporary Lewis would be a close second for 'favorite writer' mainly because of the 'out of the silent planet' series and the screwtape letters.

I would also advise to people 'a wrinkle in time', and, well I could go on but sufficed to say I just love so many good books.

Here's something I wrote a while ago, but couldn't find this thread to post.

So, Hemingway's taken a back seat because I've found another book which has long inspired a degree of fascination. Mein Kampf is proving to be every bit as interesting and psychotic as I had hoped, and some of the ideas within it amuse me no end due to the sheer irony of their writing. Below are a few quotes which made me either chortle or quirk a brow. These are in no particular order either.

"Sooner will a camel pass through the eye of a needle than a great man be "discovered" by election," simply made me laugh. The implied deficiency in a nation's good judgement has always struck me as quite true for some countries. That said, I do believe that some great people have been elected, though whether one could term that a discovery is another matter.

"I could not help but be amazed at how short a time it took this great evil power within the state (Vienna) to create a certain opinion even where it meant totally falsifying profound desires and views which surely existed among the public. In a few days a ridiculous episode had become a significant state action, while conversely, at the same time, vital problems fell prey to a public oblivion, or rather were simply filched from the memory and consciousness of the masses."

and

"...even to give them a popularity which the great man often does not obtain his whole life long; names which a month before no one had even seen or heard of, while at the same time old and proved figures of political or other public life, though in the best of health, simply died as far as their fellow men were concerned, or were heaped with such vile insults that their names soon threatened to become the symbol of some definite act of infamy of villainy."

made me think immediately of the celebrity phenomenon. While Hitler was on about political figures, I see it to be far more relative to those we see as famous. How often does one see the overly scrutinised life turn to something the media could use as a bad example? I think it's somewhat depressing that a book so heaped with deranged anti-Semitism and sadistic ideals could make such a stalwart point, once I'd twisted it to fit the modern setting.

Now we come to the expressions of sheer irony. I haven't gotten particularly far into the book itself, and already I've found several.

"From then on our discussions at work were often very heated. I argued back, from day to day better informed than my antagonists concerning their own knowledge, until one day they made use of the weapon which most readily conquers reason: terror and violence."

Could it be that Hitler is complaining about being bullied into silence? My god! The shock! The horror!

In another place, he states his support for democracy and the "rule of man" which again made me smile. Bitterly, I'll admit.

For all the irony and possibly-true-in-different-context points made so far in Mein Kampf, I have to say that I none the less find myself repulsed by the other ideas. The overbearing nationalism. The anti-Semitism. The degradation that he would heap upon those of non-German language or decent, and the clear statement of his loathing there for. It's also full of half-baked bullshit about how he spent his youth, much of which is discredited in both footnotes and external historical reference. I have to wonder just how much of it he believed himself, considering the psychological state of the author.

I would recommend it as a fascinating read, and a succinct examination of one twisted leader's mind, but stand warned that some of the ideas may horrify. To quote the blurb: "Mein Kampf is an evil book, but it remains necessary reading for those who seek to understand the Holocaust, for students of totalitarian psychology and for all who care to safeguard democracy."

Warning: Highly opinionated.

Psychosis is, like all extremes, extremely attractive to the outside obserber. It promises to sweep away all the petty dross, the mundaity and the small evils in a wave of glasslike malevolence, promising that all will be fine once half of us lie beneath the sodden earth. In reality, it simply creates it own mundanity.

Fondant on literature:

Orwell: 1984: Surpirisingly easy to read, well-constructed and delectably horrifying, a combination of gleaming, cruel intellect with mindless brutality laced with the crushing of all hope.

Miguel Cervantes: Don Quixote: reading it, and enjoying it. Takes it's time, but it's been pretty good so far.

The communist Manifesto: Read this, and understand why the world trembles at the rise of the red star.

Terry Goodkind: Starts off well, but slowly degenerates into a pissing match against socialism, and an espousal of his insane politics. Still worth reading, but it becomes so abjectly upsetting to have to section off the writing from the rhetoric.

Ayn Rand: Lady, you one stupid bitch. No concept of economics, no understanding of human nature beyond the one facet of 'competition', seems to not understand the seperation between humanity and government. Places 'competition' on some sort of pedastal, and then goes on to destroy her argument. Oh, and fairly feeble anti-communist propaganda. I would say take this witha pinch of salt, but in truth, it should be taken with several tonnes of the damn stuff, and should only be legally sold as a companion to either: The General Theory of money, Employment and interest or Das Kaptial. God preserve us from lunatics like this one.

Solzhenitsin: His works against the autocracy of Lenin and Stalin are elegant, bleak and truly show the face of totalitarianism. I particularly enjoyed One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch, and the Gulag Archipelago is worth a read. Cancer Ward is much the same.
However, his works on the Tzarist state, such as August 1914, rank as some of the most turgid, romantiscising and silly that I've read. I barely managed August 1914, and the following books nearly killed me with the sheer weight of their uncritical worship of Tzarist Russia. I strongly suspect that I will suffer for this critique, but I'll restate this much: He is still a splendid author.

Carlo D'Este: Decision in Normandy: A well-written account on the Normandy campaign, that is both critical and at the same balanced in it's approach to Montgommery. It's only flaw is the author's waxing lyrical the subject of General George Patton, whom he subjects only to critiscism on his personality, rather that critiscism on his generalship.

Oscar Wilde: Only read The Soul of Man under socialism and a collection of his works, but I must say that I like his work, and his style in particular. Though his blatant rim-piratery becomes a little excessive at times.

Correli Barent: Britainand Her army: a merciless taking apart of the british military, coupled with a fair, and objective assessment of their performance in many, many wars. Worth reading.

Terry Prattchet: Pure, spectacular elegance, wit and style. Read or die.

The Illiad: More a history than a book. Averageness.

The Hitchhiker's guide: Funny. Very funny.

Lord of the rings series: Boring, I'll be frank. Tolkien managed to make brutality, evil and horror as mundance as crumpets and tea with no butter or sugar. His writing is staid, his style inelegant and his subject matter is neglected in favour of perusing off into the aimless wnaderings of his mind with little concern for the reader's wellbeing, or interest.

Of late, I've been reading more. My break from Escapist has left time on my hands to do so. And lo, Commentary.

Lolita was amazing. I've never felt so.. ravished I suppose by words on a page. Simply fantastic. I suggest it to everyone, as this particular book will draw you in to a mind as curiously enticing as it is twisted and sick. Like A Clockwork Orange it leaves you with the uneasy feeling that you do have empathy with the narrator, despite his crimes and all else.

Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorean Gray turned out to be both hysterically amusing, fascinating and a little chilling at the same time. Now that's talent, in my view. Few other authors are able to inspire similar feelings.

Labyrinth:
Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorean Gray turned out to be both hysterically amusing, fascinating and a little chilling at the same time. Now that's talent, in my view. Few other authors are able to inspire similar feelings.

Dunno if you've heard of Will Self, but he did a modern imitation of Dorian Gray. Usually a bad idea, but he's one of the only living authors who could pull it off and not be crap.

I urge eveyone to read the Dice Man by Luke Rhinehard. It involves assigning an action to each number of a die and following the roll no matter the consequences. It all descends into rape, murder and madness though it will hold a deep interest for anyone with a passing interest in human function and psychology.

Since many of my favorites have been thrown out here in both the classic and modern books, I will but mention one series. That is the Erickson series of The Malazan Tales of the Fallen, a so-far 7 book series that has managed to not wear out its welcome by having enough variety, wit, intelligence, depth, and raw balls-to-the-wall creativity that no matter how convoluted the whole story is (and it is SO convoluted) I can't get enough of it. It is a fantasy series but it's so full of imaginitive and unique ideas, as well as for once a guy with who is able to combine a competent military mind with sympathetic and original characters, making the battles unique and interesting while managing to keep you interested in the fates of the character. It seems to me most militaristic parts to fantasy novels either focus too close on one character making the vastness of the battle entirely up to your imagination with a minimal attempt to expand, or focus so much on the tactics and organization that it becomes dry and mechanical and you forget to care about any of the characters until the end.

And on that note, there are a LOT of characters. Every one of them unique, every one of them memorable in some way, and while it can be a little overwhelming he at least provides a thorough appendix of all of them, as well as the various gods, locations, warrens (more on this in a sec), races, historical events, etc. etc. etc. that you can always take a peek when you get lost.

One of the coolest things, though, is his complete reimagining of magic. While there have been authors who have gone into some scientific detail (I'm looking at you Death Gate series) the sheer originality of this system of magic is like none other. I'd explain it but honestly I don't think I could do it any justice.

Alright, it's hard to really explain this because I can go on and on about every different aspect of everything in it, but if you have a penchant for some very different from standard fantasy ideas this series is full of them.

I vary between fluff and Classics. I'm currently reading Gullivers Travels, Watership Down and War and Peace (given, I've been reading it on and off for over a month).

I'm a BIG dickens fan. I also love Douglas Adams, George Orwell, J.R.R Tolkein, Anne Rice and plenty of others.

By the way, for anyone who wants to keep up to date with new books and to keep track of books they want to read, www.shelfari.com . It helps me out alot.

Labyrinth:
Of late, I've been reading more. My break from Escapist has left time on my hands to do so. And lo, Commentary.

Lolita was amazing. I've never felt so.. ravished I suppose by words on a page. Simply fantastic. I suggest it to everyone, as this particular book will draw you in to a mind as curiously enticing as it is twisted and sick. Like A Clockwork Orange it leaves you with the uneasy feeling that you do have empathy with the narrator, despite his crimes and all else.

Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorean Gray turned out to be both hysterically amusing, fascinating and a little chilling at the same time. Now that's talent, in my view. Few other authors are able to inspire similar feelings.

Lolita is one of the top on my to-read list.

As for Dorian Gray, liked it, didn't love it. I found the characters unlikeable, although I suppose that was the point. And the long discussions about philosophy and life, interesting yet they disengaged me with the main plot. As I said, I did like it though.

I finished a book called Little Brother recently. Fantastic work. Obviously it was influenced by Orwell.

The basic plot is that this kid is skipping school with a few friends when there is a terrorist attack on the city he is in, San Francisco. He and his friends find themselves detained by the Department of Homeland Security for the sake of questioning, which is not carried out in the most ethical manner.

When released, Marcus finds himself in a police state. The city has become a place where everyone is treated like a potential terrorist. Cameras, phone taps, even the internet has become a tool for surveillance. Massively narked by the turn of events, Marcus uses a combination of technological know-how and social networks to construct an alternative internet system, called the Xnet. All people on this network use cyber identities so as not to be picked out by the DHS, who they antagonise and make running the city very difficult for.

Written for the modern Pixel Generation, the language is such as to be easily understood for the most part, though some technical jargon can weigh it down. I imagine I would have better understood the book on the whole had I a background in programming.

A lot of pop culture references are present in the book. Various events and characters are open for easy empathy to both young people and those who can look back, misty eyed, to days when their knees didn't give out with less provocation than they now do. One criticism I can and will level at it is the somewhat unbelievable nature of some parts. Another is that it doesn't explore a number of themes as well as I believe it should. An example of that is the torture and 'unethical' manner of interrogation. While the original description is vivid and empathic, later in the book it glosses over what has happened to the other characters and the after effects they go through. One in particular, Darryl, finds himself imprisoned for the entirety of the book, and while at the end it has him in a psychiatric ward due to the mental battering he got, I feel that Doctorow would have better explored it by actually going into the result. Somewhat like the return of the Hobbits to a soiled Shire, except glossed over in this particular work.

I'd recommend it to everyone though, especially people with rebellious bones in their bodies and a taste for the modern. Tacky in places yes but if you can get beyond that the characters are powerful and the ideas are strong. It's got a more uplifting end than 1984 too, for people who aren't such a fan of the depressing.

The literature thread lives! Joy!

I've been in a bit of slump with my reading for a long time, but over christmas I finally got started again. I'm warming up carefully with some mixed sci-fi:

First of all: I really like Arthur C. Clarke. For a scientist, I think he has a good feeling of when his somewhat sterile stories could use a touch of human emotion and humor and even though he can be stingy with it, it always seems present.
I read the first Ringworld book. It was okay, but I'm not really sure what elevates it to Hugo award status. Maybe it was a slow year, or sci-fi has simply improved much since then. Very imaginative and detailed, but I felt that the plot was a little lacking and the writing stale.
Read the first book in the Horus Heresy series and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. The story was interesting enough, but the writing felt dull and sluggish, getting lost in unimportant details. For a novel of less than 400 pages, it also had way too many characters.
Reading the Ultramarines Omnibus right now, and I'm finding it quite a bit more enjoyable than the Horus series. The main character is a bit one-dimensional (most space maries seem to be), but the author realised that you can spend a little time writing about more human Imperial Citizens as well, and keep the reader much more entertained that way. He does have an annoying habit of using the same phrases over and over again though.
Next up is The Picture of Dorian Gray or In Cold Blood if all goes well. If not, probably more Space Marines.

I'm a big Crichton fan. I appricitate action mixed with science mixed with social commentary.

The best thing I've read lately was Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. It's a dense, difficult book but worth the time. Also, House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski (possible spelling error) is pretty incredible.

Anymore, I don't read fiction. I used to be totally into Tolkien, but I can't pick it up again. I stick to historical novels - anything by William Manchester or David Hackett Fisher - and poetry.

Labyrinth:
I plan to read A Clockwork Orange at some point, because the movie was fantastic, and I've been told that the book is even better. Interesting though, to note the cross-overs between A Clockwork Orange and say, Crime And Punishment, which I'm currently reading. They're both well worth it as experiences, and comparisons.

Fluff... requires definition. I do like some 'light' fiction, such as much of Pratchett because, despite the fact that many of his books are just variations on the same mould, they are fantastically written and quite hilarious. Jasper Fforde is another favourite.

Clockwork was a really good book, but if your into that try reading Anthem, Atlas shrugged and Fountainhead. All by Ayn Rand very good and very deep. I love these books, very big on economics and individuality.

Just finished the "The Moon is Down" by Steinbeck. Good, quite touching novella about the occupation of a Scandanavian town by an unspecified enemy (following some "Leader" guy) at war with England and Russia published in 42. Could have been a ham fisted anti Nazi propaganda work in lesser hands, but it does a good job making the reader symphathetic with both sides. The situation is the evil in the book, not the people forced into it. Both the villagers and the soliders are trapped in different ways, freedom being a main theme in the novella. Nothing extraodinarily complex and fairly simple language (written when Steinbeck was trying to create a novella/ play hybrid genre). Has a rebellious 'we will not be overcome' vibe despite being set in an occupied town. Decent short read.

Can't believe only one other person in this thread mentions Steinbeck...

I recently read House of Leaves and loved it, it's pretty trippy. The road by Cormac Mc Carthy is awesome as well, a very sad book.

However as the screen name suggests the Author who I like the best is Michael Connelly. his books are crime thrillers that i think are a good read.

I loved 1984. Personally sometimes you have to read a depressing book to really get the true sentiment of what the author was trying to impose on the reader. For this I also loved Trainspotting, The Kite Runner, and No Country For Old Men. If it makes me react...I love it. Lately I have been reading more on news topics. Books on Iraq, Israel, Iran, and American conflicts. This allows me to understand what is going on in the middle-east, and how a region of the world can hate us so much. I guess I'm following the Rage Against The Machine idea of "Know Your Enemy." However my favorite books of all time deal with things I love. Golf, cycling, and books made into movies are always great. They are more like a mental vacation that I can take without having to leave the house. I liked this thread as well because it got me looking at some books I have not read yet. Cheers to everyone for some good suggestions.

I really like John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath is brilliant, if a bit heavy, East of Eden feels like a lighter version of Grapes, Cannery Row is a fun little book and my favourite is Of Mice and Men, superbly crafted with a crushing ending.

I can't believe nobody's mentioned One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest yet.

I appreciate novels where people are struggling to make their lives work in strange environments, watching them learn and apply lessons. Like the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I love how they try to design a new culture and civilization unique to mars.

Or how people struggle amidst great turmoil in order to merely survive or go on about their lives. like in Kite Runner and Splendid Thousand Suns.

It's not a book as such but having to had to study Percy Shelley works recently I've found I love his ideals and beliefs and am now reading everything he's done along with William Blake's works. Oh and Clive Barkers books of blood are brilliant if you like original, scary, disturbing and occasional funny horror

MCGT:
I really like John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath is brilliant, if a bit heavy, East of Eden feels like a lighter version of Grapes, Cannery Row is a fun little book and my favourite is Of Mice and Men, superbly crafted with a crushing ending.

East of Edens my favourite, it gets critised a lot for being nostalgic and sentimental, but thats why I like it so much.Of Mice and Men is terrific though.