Author Topic: 2011 Summer reading list  (Read 2652 times)

Thought

  • Guru of Time Emeritus
  • God of War (+3000)
  • *
  • Posts: 3426
    • View Profile
Re: 2011 Summer reading list
« Reply #15 on: March 07, 2011, 04:45:22 pm »
Might I cheat and suggest the "Percy Jackson and  the Olympians" series? If note, then I suppose I would say to start at the beginning with Lightning Thief. These books are deliciously clever not only in the voice of the narrator but also in their adaptation of classical mythology to a new setting. Although some of the fun comes from recognizing how the old myths get reinterpreted, so if you have no knowledge of Greek stories then it might not be as enjoyable.

For nonfiction, I would ultimately recommend Outliers: The Story of Success. While this book isn't particularly paradigm shifting, it has numerous small arguments that will hopefully lead to a larger scale perspective shift. Perhaps of greatest interest is that intelligence is not in itself a good indicator of actual success.

But if I could recommend two nonfiction books, the second would be The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Its implications for the computer and the internet are most heartening.

yoshie

  • Porrean (+50)
  • *
  • Posts: 58
    • View Profile
Re: 2011 Summer reading list
« Reply #16 on: March 07, 2011, 07:48:08 pm »
kind of reminds me of the old detective novels, only he never speaks.
O_O Silent protagonists in novels?!

it focuses mostly on the other characters, he very seldom speaks and unless its him arguing with his hand he keeps it short.

Kodokami

  • Entity
  • Dimension Crosser (+1000)
  • *
  • Posts: 1110
  • Enjoy the moment!
    • View Profile
Re: 2011 Summer reading list
« Reply #17 on: March 07, 2011, 11:17:03 pm »
I suggest The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Unfortunately, I can't give a decent synopsis as I haven't finished it yet! However... It's a good 700+ page fantasy novel on "how heroism went wrong." Judging from all the reviews plastered on the back, it's a fantastic story that should stand beside The Lord of the Ring series in skill and style (hence why I picked this up at B&N the other day). I'm interested to see how it turns out, and what you will think of it.

Ramsus

  • Entity
  • Chronopolitan (+300)
  • *
  • Posts: 313
    • View Profile
Re: 2011 Summer reading list
« Reply #18 on: April 18, 2011, 10:02:20 am »
The time for this to start is coming up, so I've updated the fiction list.

Lord J Esq

  • Moon Stone J
  • Hero of Time (+5000)
  • *
  • Posts: 5463
  • ^_^ "Ayla teach at college level!!"
    • View Profile
Re: 2011 Summer reading list
« Reply #19 on: April 18, 2011, 03:16:45 pm »
Your non-fiction list is looking pretty spare. Let me change my recommendation to The Woman Behind the New Deal, by Kirstin Downey.

Ramsus

  • Entity
  • Chronopolitan (+300)
  • *
  • Posts: 313
    • View Profile
Re: 2011 Summer reading list
« Reply #20 on: April 18, 2011, 05:32:06 pm »
Your non-fiction list is looking pretty spare. Let me change my recommendation to The Woman Behind the New Deal, by Kirstin Downey.

Thanks for the suggestion. I updated the nonfiction list, but personally, I'm going to be focusing on reading fiction works this summer, since pretty much everything I've read in the last five years has been nonfiction. So for me, the actual purpose of this reading list is to force me to read some fiction works.

Also, I've already read some of the books on the list, so I'll be skipping those. I listed them anyway in case anyone else wants to participate.