Novel Recommendations

[beefyfigure]

I have an oral book presentation due in a few months and would appreciate it if I were given some reading recommendations, preferably a short fictional novel—such as Jhabvala's "Heat and Dust".

Thank you.

[bronto]

Salman Rushdie - Haroun and the Sea of Stories

[beefyfigure]

Hi there, bronto. It's been quite some time.

I'm not necessarily looking for an Indian author—just make it a short, fictional novel.

Open to further recommendations.

[bronto]

but that is what i just recommended. the book is 211 pages of complete fiction. not only that, but i imagine you will have quite a bit to talk about with all of the metaphors and the author's almost poetic writing style. it's perfect for this kind of thing.

anyway, hi beefy!

[beefyfigure]

Sí, imás!

[oBlade]

Halo: The Flood
Halo: First Strike
Halo: The Fall of Reach

I don't read fiction.

[.vooDoo.]

"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

Excellent reading material. I hear the movie is in the works.

[*NADS Lo$eMoney]

The Great Gatsby by F scott Fitzgerald.  Its only about 200 pages long and is my favorite book ever.

[bronto]

The Old Man And The Sea - Earnest Hemingway

[theweakspot]

I would be honestly surprised if 50% of people on this board haven't read "Snow Crash" by Neal Stepehnson....

The story takes place in a semi-America of the future, where corporatization, franchising, and the economy in general have spun wildly out of control. Snow Crash depicts the absence of a central powerful state; in its place, corporations have taken over the traditional roles of government, including dispute resolution and national defense. The United States has lost most of its territory in the wake of an economic collapse; the residual remains of the federal government are weak and inefficient and are used by Stephenson for comic relief.


Much of the territory lost by the government has been carved up into a huge number of sovereign enclaves, each run by its own big business franchise (such as "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong" or the various residential burbclaves). This arrangement bears a similarity to anarcho-capitalism, a theme Stephenson carries over to his next novel The Diamond Age. Hyperinflation has devalued the dollar to the extent that trillion dollar bills, Ed Meeses, are little regarded and the quadrillion dollar note, a Gipper, is the standard 'small' bill. For large transactions, people resort to alternative currencies like yen or "Kongbucks" (the official currency of Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong).


The Metaverse, Stephenson's successor to the Internet, permeates ruling-class activities, and constitutes Stephenson's vision of how a virtual reality-based Internet might evolve in the near future. Although there are public-access Metaverse terminals in Reality, using them carries a social stigma among Metaverse denizens, in part because of the low visual quality of the avatars (the Metaverse representation of a user). In the Metaverse, status is a function of two things: access to restricted environments (such as the Black Sun, an exclusive Metaverse club) and technical acumen (often demonstrated by the sophistication of one's avatar). See Second Life, The Palace, Uru, and Active Worlds. The latter is based entirely on Snow Crash.

[bronto]

any one of the books in the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman are fun.

[Blitz]

You don't read nonfiction? Oh shoot... Then my suggestion of The Eloquant Universe is out of the question. Great book if I must say so. Explains physics and the Superstring Theory in elementary terms.

Blitz

[bronto]

yeah they made that into a PBS thing as well, here's the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

[beefyfigure]

Although you haven't mentioned or recommended these novels, ultimately I have chosen for Pat Barker's W.W.I. "Regeneration" trilogy. To show some spirit of gratitude, I would fully recommend to you these particular and at any rate fine pieces of writing. Honestly, they are a pleasure to read, almost an invigorating experience, and fans of this kind of litterature will know what I'm talking about.

[Blitz]

I like Steinbeck books like, Grapes of Wraith, Of Mice and Men, The Moon is Down...

Blitz

[*DAMN Bondo]

Jennifer Government is one of my favorite novels. Kind of a sci-fi dystopic commentary on capitalism. Probably something you'd like if you enjoy 1984 or Brave New World (both excellent novels in their own right and shorter) but it is more pop-fiction than literature, but not in a bad way, it certainly offers enough to analyze critically.

[Croosch]

The Great Gatsby by F scott Fitzgerald

No offense but, I would advise against this book... from my own experience I found this book very boring, and I'm not one to insult books very often.

[Spanke]

Novels by M.Ds are usually swell!

Spanke, I strongly suggest you read the 'messages from admins and moderators' thread, that is stickied in this forum.  it specifically bars the abuse of smiley faces.  Something you flagrently ignored in this post. 

Consider yourself spanked.  (Warned, if you dont get the hint)

-Lone

[spike]

Deleted because you stole my text color. (not that there was much here to delete anyway, about four words, none of which were a book or an author, nor constructive, so i think it was ok to delete )

-Lone

[*DAMN Bondo]

The Great Gatsby by F scott Fitzgerald

No offense but, I would advise against this book... from my own experience I found this book very boring, and I'm not one to insult books very often.

It appears to me that you are an ignorant commoner. The Great Gatsby is a very good bit of literature, often rated the best work of American literature (or literature period in novel form.)/elitist hat.