TCF Book Club Resurrected-January 2010

I thought this was a good idea that fell apart due to poor orginization and was too strict.

Last time i checked, we read Starship Troopers, so this thread will serve as discussion for that. Feel free to post suggestions for next month and PM me. Please discuss Starship Troopers or topics that stem from that, and please don't spam.

I will announce the next month's sometime near the end of this month beginning of next one, with a poll on the vote for the month following. The poll will include all recommendations and any books that received a vote from the previous month. That is, if the book club remains popular. Discussion of the book must remain in Spoiler tags until after the second week of that month (obviously not with Starship Troopers). That is, if the book club is popular enough. All suggestions must be PMed to me (TNine) for them to be involved in next month's book club.

GO!

I think Dune would be a good idea, but isnt it about a thousand pages?

I just copy-pasted from last time and removed Starship Troopers, since i didn't have any prior experience/recommendations to work it off of.

Cheese wrote:I think Dune would be a good idea, but isnt it about a thousand pages?

It's only about 400 pages, so it's not that long. Theres a couple of books in the main series, but the first one is the best.

The Time Traveler's Wife?

You just lost your man Card, T.

Dude, time traveller's wife is one of the greatest books ever. I changed my mind about it being a good TCF book club book though. Still, folks should read it if they get the chance.

Dont worry I already filed to have my mancard taken off record...

TNine wrote:
Please discuss Starship Troopers or topics that stem from that, and please don't spam.

Stop the spam please.

I can't say I'm a fan of Dan Brown's work. The bugger tries to sell his work as fiction that is heavily based on non fiction, and this resulted in a lot of confusion over just how factual his books actually are.

I've only read The Da Vinci Code in this list, which is no where near as good as I thought it was going to be. I find it odd that I've read so many books, but they're usually never mentioned in the book club.

Cheese wrote:I think Dune would be a good idea, but isnt it about a thousand pages?

This is a problem how?

thanks for picking this up Tnine. I did a pretty poor job with it the first time around, but I still like the idea.

I'm not sure whether I should vote for dune (which I want to read) or Space Odyssey, (which I've read twice, would like everyone else to read, and would like to read it again.)

I also wouldn't mind re-reading anything from Michael Crichton. I must say that Prey, from the very beginning, is the most fluent, exciting, and addictive book that I've ever read. Michael Crichton has an incomparable talent for making AMAZING thrillers.

Gold Spartan5 wrote:I've only read The Da Vinci Code in this list, which is no where near as good as I thought it was going to be. I find it odd that I've read so many books, but they're usually never mentioned in the book club.

Cheese wrote:I think Dune would be a good idea, but isnt it about a thousand pages?

This is a problem how?

I dont think as many people would read it.

Can we suggest other books to be added? I don't exactly enjoy reading action/adventure/thriller novels, but I'm willing to suggest books that many of you might potentially enjoy.

They're also shorter, which means an easier read.

Ziggy wrote:Can we suggest other books to be added? I don't exactly enjoy reading action/adventure/thriller novels, but I'm willing to suggest books that many of you might potentially enjoy.

They're also shorter, which means an easier read.

Then what the hell do you enjoy?

Well, currently I'm reading Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut which is actually pretty interesting. It reminds me of a Wes Anderson film. It's good though. It's about a journalist who is writing a piece about a nuclear scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project, and he goes around speaking to the man's children and it's pretty weird shit. He ends up on this island, converts to this strange religion, and yeah. Strangely, the scientist actually created this doomsday device, so the blurb makes it out to almost be some sort of action or thriller, but it's nothing like that.

When I finish that, I'll finish the second half of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes which is a good compilation of the shorter adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It's a good read too.

My favourite book happens to be Catcher in the Rye, but not for the basic and common emo connotations and underlying message of rebellion. I just love the character.

Another favourite is A Clockwork Orange which was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. If you've seen the movie, or heard of the book, you'll know why.

Anyway, I enjoy reading memoirs and those sorts of things.

Ziggy wrote:Another favourite is A Clockwork Orange which was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. If you've seen the movie, or heard of the book, you'll know why.

I'd actually like to check that out. I have seen bits of the movie... but to be honest, I really don't like Stanley Kubrick. I really don't like what he did with Space Odyssey (despite how much people seem to love it.)

I think he tends to make film adaptations that make absolutely no sense to those who have not read the books first. In other words, his movies can be good supplements to the novels on which they are based, but they don't really hold up on their own.

Rotaretilbo wrote:I can't say I'm a fan of Dan Brown's work. The bugger tries to sell his work as fiction that is heavily based on non fiction, and this resulted in a lot of confusion over just how factual his books actually are.

He doesn't help by trying to pass it off as non-fiction, even though there are a LOT of fictional elements in it...
Mindscrew.

Anyhow, I have my own copy of Dune right here, the hardcover edition, and it's 473 pages long. Would LOVE to delve into it again, so I voted for that.

I recommend that whenever we finish a book, we have two votes. One to decide which book to read next, the other to decide which book to add into the hopper.

As for Stanley Kubrick... his style of filming was weird, but I liked it. On the other hand, if it was based off the book, it was going to be changed from the source material to a large degree...

I've only recently started reading novels more. I'll have to get going on reading some more. I do enjoy a good story.

Suggestions for must reads? I like more darker and edgey-er storys. I also of course enjoy sci-fi, action etc etc. You get the idea.

Rasq wrote:As for Stanley Kubrick... his style of filming was weird, but I liked it. On the other hand, if it was based off the book, it was going to be changed from the source material to a large degree...

Yeah... going so far as to change Space Odyssey from Saturn to Jupiter was bad. Neglecting to include those famous lines toward the end... which I'd rather not quote until we've all read it... was just tasteless.

Rock wrote:I've only recently started reading novels more. I'll have to get going on reading some more. I do enjoy a good story.

I haven't been a good reader since 6th grade. It's really sad

Clockwork Orange is a pretty challenging read initially because 50% of the text is in Nadsat, the fictional language of the teenagers in the book's context. It's pretty good though, and it's pretty close to the movie. The movie makes things a bit fancier, but does skip a few of the finer and nicer elements, but for the most part it's loyal to the novel. It's an incredibly enjoyable book though, because once you get your grasp with the Nadsat, it just becomes really immersive and it's pretty much always fascinating throughout the book. It's good to see the movie first, because it makes the imagery easier to picture and it's much better when you have an idea of what they look like and what's going on in certain scenes. By all means, give it a go. It's got a strange tempo to it, but it's good.

Kubrick is good, but I do partially agree with your comment. The Shining, for example, was a bit fucking weird. FMJ on the other hand was a great film.

Anyway, to Rasq's idea, that sounds good, but if it's the case, I'll skip this book then because none of those really interest me.

I started reading novels in 4th grade. I call that an accomplishment, considering half the people I know complain about reading past 200 pages.

I became a much worse reader due to lack of time. That, and, with a good book, i won't stop reading. I reread the "Young Wizards" series (yes, it's for like sixth or seventh graders (I'm in ninth), but it was really good), and i honestly stopped studying for midterms. I read all the Harry Potters in less than 24 hours, my sister read the sixth in like 7 hours. I made sure to get Pendragon books on weekends, cause i've never stopped halfway through one of the books for anything longer than a bathroom break or a small meal.

And with my schedule, i can't afford baffing about. Which is funny, cause i'm here. My mind will find a way to procrasinate, i guess.

A Song of Ice and Fire is the best book series I've read so far. It's the exact opposite of mainstream fantasy(Hero kicks Villan's ass). Though it would more than likely offend conserative people. I finished them in all under a week and re-read them twice. The character detail is great, the plot always keeps you guessing, and the detail is great...Of course, when the 3rd book is 1200 pages long, detail should be great.

RockaHolicGameR wrote:Suggestions for must reads? I like more darker and edgey-er storys. I also of course enjoy sci-fi, action etc etc. You get the idea.

Nothing?

Anyways, I looked up Clockwork Orange and I'm interested. I may make the effort to give it a read.

Edited OP

Suggestions may still be posted here, but they must be PMed to me in order to guarantee that they will be in next month.

RockaHolicGameR wrote:

RockaHolicGameR wrote:Suggestions for must reads? I like more darker and edgey-er storys. I also of course enjoy sci-fi, action etc etc. You get the idea.

Nothing?

Anyways, I looked up Clockwork Orange and I'm interested. I may make the effort to give it a read.

The Engineer Trilogy.
It's fantasy... minus the magic, magical races, yadda yadda yadda.
Not only is it a rather dark read, but it takes several common fantasy archtypes and deconstructs the hell out of them.