News:

For some, the heat of summer nears its end. . . And for others, the blooms of spring appear.

Main Menu

Books You Can't Forget

Started by Banya, December 10, 2015, 05:17:15 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Banya

What books stunned you?  Particularly for good, share the novels, short stories, and plays that blew you away, introduced twists you couldn't foresee, and have stuck with you since.  Use spoilers if necessary!

A few that have stayed with me through the years:

Gone With the Wind, a novel that defends its standing among the classics.  It's beautiful, painful, hopeful, and enjoyable, and it takes about a month to read if you read it every day.  I would love to discuss this book with someone.
The Farming of Bones, an insightful and heartrending story of the 1937 Haitian genocide.
Hoot, a motivational and entertaining story of environmental activism and befriending a modern, pre-teen outlaw.
   

Kitsune

The Redwall books really did, as well as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Hobbit, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the Hunger Games trilogy. In general, I like deep messages that I can delve into.

Cornflower MM

Gone With the Wind is awesome, I agree. Unfortunately, I can't say I liked the characters very much. Scarlett bugged me most. And Hoot was very good. Did you know there's more books by that author?

Hmm. The Redwall series, of course.
The Mortal Instruments series is the BEST. It's companion trilogy and books, The Infernal Devices (The trilogy) and The Bane Chronicles and also The Shadowhunter's Codex are companions.

There's more, but I'm running out of time.

Banya

Quote from: Cornflower MM on December 11, 2015, 02:42:05 AM
And Hoot was very good. Did you know there's more books by that author?
Yes, I like Carl Hiaasen's YA works.  I enjoyed Flush, and own a copy of it along with Hoot, and Scat was all right.  I haven't yet been able to read Chomp, but it's been on my extensive to-read list for years.  What did you think of Flush?
   

Cornflower MM

I really liked it, but it's not really sticking out in my memory. . . . . Isn't that the one with the fuchsia dye?

And Howl's Moving Castle is one of the most memorable books I've ever read.

Banya

@Flush: Yeah, it's that one.  It's not as memorable as Hoot.

I was going to mention Howl's Moving Castle as well.  I'm not surprised you did. :) That's such a wonderful book.
   

Cornflower MM

Ah, okay. I'll have to re-read it.

Indeed it is! and one of the best things about it is that all the characters are immensely flawed in one way or another. . . . Except Michael, he doesn't have much of any flaws other than those of a normal human being.

Jetthebinturong

Practically every book I've read I can remember quite vividly but a few of note are:

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - An absolutely fantastic story with phenomenal characters and a really original voice behind it.

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy - Playing With Fire, the second book of the series is fantastic, like the others, and it introduces three of my favourite characters, but I'm not going to talk about every book in the series. The Faceless Ones deserves special mention because it was the first time I read such a momentous twist ending in a book. The build up to said ending was superb and also introduced Fletcher Renn, who is perhaps my favourite character in fiction.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy - It's amazing. So many important reveals and one of the best fights in literature make this book my favourite in the series.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men by Derek Landy - Chapter fifty-one. The people who've read it know what that means. And also the ending. From the scene where the warlocks first attack Roarhaven all the way to the end. It's a wild ride.

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying of the Light by Derek Landy - The perfect end to the perfect series. Everything from the previous books is wrapped up superbly, and a new mystery is introduced so Landy can write more if he wants to.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare - I don't quite know how to explain my feelings towards this book, so I won't. Suffice it to say that it is the perfect finale to the trilogy that Cassandra Clare originally intended The Mortal Instruments to be.

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare - And this is the perfect finale to the sextology it became.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare - Much like Glass and HF, Princess is the perfect end to The Infernal Devices trilogy.

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare - Black and Clare subvert your expectations brilliantly in this excellent twist on the typical Chosen One story.

The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare - It builds fantastically upon the end of Trial and continues to subvert your expectations in a way that you'll love. I cannot wait for The Bronze Key.

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini - Many people consider Brisingr and Inheritance to be weaker books than Eragon and Eldest due to the slower pace. They say that the dwarf politics bores them. I disagree wholeheartedly. The slower pace doesn't bother me and I find the dwarf politics fascinating. In this book Arya becomes more of a character than just a plank of wood (no I didn't like Arya, sue me) and the story started to come together nicely. Roran's time as a soldier was exciting, and at times even harrowing, to read about. I just wish that the cover had been gold and not black so that Shruikan could get the cover of Inheritance, but alas it was not to be and I am left with a green dragon who I assume will bond with Arya.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - I can't quite articulate my thoughts on this, just go and find it, and read it.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - It is not often that you find a high fantasy that is not based on Germanic Europe, or England, but the Grisha trilogy manages to distinguish itself by being set in a sort of Russian world. The magic system is fascinating and the plot is intriguing.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud - Yes, I mean the whole trilogy. It's extremely funny, with an engaging plot and compelling characters and yet still manages to explore many dark and serious themes; namely slavery, power, class, corruption, isolation and love.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan - There's not much I can say, just read them.

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan - It's just a fantastic read.
"In the meantime, no one should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system."
"Understood." Will looked at Nico. "Will you be my buddy?"
"You're a dork," Nico announced.
~ The Hidden Oracle, Rick Riordan

Delthion

Edgar Allen Poe's - Fall of the House of Usher. Definitely worth it. Best if you read it alone, in the dark, by candlelight. ;D
Lord of the Rings of course.
The Song of Roland.
Robin Hood. (I forget who did this version...)
Dreams, dreams are untapped and writhing. How much more real are dreams than that paltry existence which we now call reality? How shall we ascend to that which humanity is destined? By mastering the dreamworld of course. That is how, my pupils, that is how.

Gonff the Mousethief

The Hobbit for sure. I felt so much while reading that book. Teamwork, compassion, war, and love. The overarching theme of how a small man can save a whole kingdom of people is a tale that never grows old in my eyes.

Mossflower no doubt. A rag tag band of creatures who strive and fight to get their land back, until a hero comes and finds his own destiny with them? Heck yes you can't forget that.

The Once and Future King. I love this book so much. It touched me, by the way it was written, the way it kept a sold flow, and of course, how the story panned out.

I want the world of Tolkien,
The message of Lewis;
The adventure of Jacques,
And the heart of Milne.
But I want the originality of me.



Jetthebinturong

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - This book is so poorly marketed. It's marketed as a supernatural romance but really it's a supernatural horror mystery thriller which uses romance as a plot device. It's incredibly intriguing and interesting and the characters are great, barring some stupid decisions they make.
"In the meantime, no one should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system."
"Understood." Will looked at Nico. "Will you be my buddy?"
"You're a dork," Nico announced.
~ The Hidden Oracle, Rick Riordan

Mhera

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. It's an amazingly well-researched and well-written biography of Louis Zamperini, a 1936 Olympian and later POW. Word of warning, though: some parts (as in most of it...) are pretty difficult to read given the nature of Zamperini's hardships. It's really not a book approach lightly, and I wouldn't recommend it to any of the younger (<13 <16 <18 (or so)) members here (don't take that as a challenge, guys).

Banya

^I've yet to read that book, but I really want to.

Two more books that I've loved for years are Pictures of Hollis Woods and Oliver Twist.  They're my two favourite books.
   

Delthion

Quote from: Mhera on December 22, 2015, 05:10:27 PM
Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. It's an amazingly well-researched and well-written biography of Louis Zamperini, a 1936 Olympian and later POW. Word of warning, though: some parts (as in most of it...) are pretty difficult to read given the nature of Zamperini's hardships. It's really not a book approach lightly, and I wouldn't recommend it to any of the younger (<13 <16 <18 (or so)) members here (don't take that as a challenge, guys).

My dad and I started reading that together.
Dreams, dreams are untapped and writhing. How much more real are dreams than that paltry existence which we now call reality? How shall we ascend to that which humanity is destined? By mastering the dreamworld of course. That is how, my pupils, that is how.

Mhera

Awesome! Just don't read ahead :P

Boy and Going Solo, both autobiography thingies (memoirs? They don't cover his whole life) by Roald Dahl, have stuck with me pretty well.