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Post by mr. worncoat on Dec 11, 2010 6:41:25 GMT
Amongst all that you've read between paper, hardback, comics and manga, who's been an author that stands out in your collection/memory?
One of my personal favorites is Jared Diamond. He's authored such books as "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and "The Third Chimpanzee". He's a great read for the material he writes about, coming off as like he certainly knows what he's saying. If you're into that silly fact-related historical nonesense, give him a try.
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Post by Lolli on Dec 11, 2010 15:15:01 GMT
My favourite author of all time is Louise Rennision. I started reading her books in high school and I've continued to read them well into adulthood. She's very humorous, focusing on a more slice of life story that has very little plot beyond detailing the character's lives. When I read her books I saw a little of my own family in hers.
Kim Harrison is a close second. She writes fantasy books, my personal favourites being the Hollows series. Everytime I finish one of her books I immediately want to pick up another because of how amazing I find the stories.
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patient
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Post by patient on Dec 20, 2010 3:41:11 GMT
I've actually done a lot of reading the past year or so, most of which was Stephen King's work. Reading through his books, I see many, many, many connections to Silent Hill. Even in works I wasn't sure if they helped inspire Silent Hill or not, I found connections. Could just relate to Stephen King's general themes, most of which dealing with God. (I saw some similarities between Silent Hill and his book It.)
I also like Dean Koontz since he, like Stephen King, is very good at writing suspense.
I like fiction, but not fantasy. Probably burnt myself out on fantasy as a child. Never read Diamond or Rennision, should check them out. Let's see... just read the most amazing book aimed towards young adults. It's called So B. It by Sarah Weeks. It's about a young girl who doesn't know what her origins are. She has a mentally retarded mother and no father, so she heads to Chicago entirely by herself to find out about everything. Don't know if Weeks has written anything else as good as So B. It.
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Post by dreggnog on Dec 20, 2010 4:57:11 GMT
^ The thing that annoys me about fantasy is the common themes you find. Medieveil times, dragons, elves and dwarves, all that stuff. I understand horror having common themes like witches, ghosts, and vampires, but . . . This is FANTASY. The genre where you're supposed to be able to do ANTYHING. There shouldn't be any common themes in my opinion. At least not common themes that have become redundant.
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Post by alx on Dec 20, 2010 19:25:00 GMT
Gene Wolfe can write well on almost any subject or genre and is the undisputed king of the unreliable narrator. Will sucker punch the unwary reader with humiliating regularity while rewarding attention to detail on almost every page
Stephen R. Donaldson has also touched base in many genres and enjoys a masterful command of moral ambiguity; you can't accurately label his characters, they all have realistic flaws and merits
Clive Barker is not a horror writer, but is often mistaken for one. This is probably because he knows how to make us invest in his characters and then mercilessly exploits our investment. We forgive this for the delicious dividends he returns
William Gibson worked his way back to the present from the future (with equally diminishing success IMHO) but his tales are timeless because he writes about the human condition
Neil Gaiman is yet another author who can span genres while moving from whimsical to grave and back again without warning. Neil is best read on a plane so you can blame the jet lag on your flight
Manga-wise Masamune Shirow is ichi-ban! He can do it all
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patient
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Post by patient on Dec 23, 2010 19:14:20 GMT
^ The thing that annoys me about fantasy is the common themes you find. Medieveil times, dragons, elves and dwarves, all that stuff. I understand horror having common themes like witches, ghosts, and vampires, but . . . This is FANTASY. The genre where you're supposed to be able to do ANTYHING. There shouldn't be any common themes in my opinion. At least not common themes that have become redundant. Exactly. All things fantasy are about the same. Major inspirations of the fantasy genre: Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. So basically, in the fantasy realm there's no avoiding elves, dragons, and magic. I have a friend that reads fantasy novels all of the time. She's reading a series that's all about dragons, and... that's about it. Meh.
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Post by Lolli on Dec 23, 2010 19:59:20 GMT
What I like about Kim Harrison fantasy is that it's actually original and interesting. She makes it her own and never falls into those silly genre stereotypes.
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Post by mr. worncoat on Dec 27, 2010 6:04:27 GMT
What I like about Kim Harrison fantasy is that it's actually original and interesting. She makes it her own and never falls into those silly genre stereotypes. How's about an example/summary of one of her works? As much as I've always been into history/biographies/non-fiction works, I've recently been wanting to jump the line into fiction. If I can keep from reading about twenty different versions of WOW-esque material, I'm happy.
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Sindaiin
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Post by Sindaiin on Apr 5, 2011 2:27:09 GMT
Amongst all that you've read between paper, hardback, comics and manga, who's been an author that stands out in your collection/memory? One of my personal favorites is Jared Diamond. He's authored such books as "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and "The Third Chimpanzee". He's a great read for the material he writes about, coming off as like he certainly knows what he's saying. If you're into that silly fact-related historical nonesense, give him a try. Guns Germs and Steel is a wonderful book. I read an excellent excerpt from it in an environmental economics class. I'd have to say though, my favorite authors are fiction. I like Mary Anna Evans, Alexandre Dumas, and my recent favorite -Rob Reger for giving Emily Strange to the world.
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Post by Alone on Apr 9, 2011 23:22:05 GMT
As of late, I've been enjoying Robert A. Heinlein and, as always, William Gibson.
Otherwise, it's been nothing but textbooks for job training.
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