Important reads

[Robert]

Lorelai said this in another thread,

Same thing happened to me. And I agree with your assesment.

Though the idea of teenagers reading anything at all, even if it is crap, does make me a little bit happy. At least now they know what books are. That's a start in the right direction.

and it made me wonder something. We've asked who you fav authors are, which cliches are your least favorite and so on. But what books would you give someone as their first book to read in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genres. The ones you think its vital that they know.

I'm just gonna list 5.

• Neuromancer - William Gibson
• Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
• Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
• The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
• Do Androids Dream of Electic Sheep - Philip K. Dick

[SixStringSamurai]

I can think of three off the top of my head.

• The Hobbit - Tolkein
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
• Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan

A decent start for differing genres and tastes.

[Elijah]

Jules Verne, Definitely. I actually haven't read 20,000 leagues, but Journey to the Center was very inspiring.

Y'all can laugh all you want, but when you're a kid, Harry Potter is freakin' awesome.

Chrysalids, which was standard highschool reading in Nova Scotia, was very enjoyable too.

[Dalton]

I, Robot
Fahrenheit 451
The Giver
Anthem

All four are good and interesting books. I also think it's important that children learn to see things from different points of view, and be forced to really stop and think about what they consider important in life. Kids should also have to think about how important personal liberties are--that even if a person is 'bad' you have no more right to censor them than they have to censor you, or else we'd be just like the societies above where everybody silently lives their lives as part of a social machine and any thoughts of individuality are met with death.

[Hilda]

• Neuromancer - William Gibson
• Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
• Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
• The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
• Do Androids Dream of Electic Sheep - Philip K. Dick

Hey, I started reading Neuromancer a little while ago! The whole mess of fictional universe-specific jargon kinda makes it hard for me to enjoy reading it, though.

[Mage Apprentice]

I robot-  Isaac Asimov
Something wicked this way comes- Ray Bradbury
The Call of Cthulu- H.P. Lovecraft
Tales of love, madness and death- Horacio Quiroga
The black cat, The golden bug- Edgar Allan Poe
The name of the rose- Umberto Ecco

[Joe]

Fahrenheit 451, by Bradbury

The Hobbit (and everything else) by Tolkien

Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis.

The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis.

Dune, entire series, by Frank Herbert, continued by Brian and Kevin J. Anderson.

The Saga of Seven Suns, by KJA.

and, of course

"The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy," by Douglas Adams. (And anything else by D. A., really)


Lastly, Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm are definite must-reads on my list of "books to recommend."

[Dalton]

How could I forget Animal Farm??

[Rook]

Adams' H2G2, obviously.

Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shaw's Illuminatus! Trilogy.

The Earthsea saga, but Ursula K LeGuin

Neuromancer by Gibson.

And I'll have to list Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein, because I keep re-reading it, you living farts.

-G

[Bane]

I can't contribute to this thread, so obviously I have to try and knock something down instead.

The Hobbit blew. It's been a while since my last read-through, but I'd really only understand the recommendations if they were intended for young, young readers who... nah, can't really think of how to justify it.
The trolls were named... what? stuff like "bill"? Great troll name there, tolkien. Oh, sorry. 'William', 'Bert' and 'Tom'. Right. And there's a feeling that this bleeds through into the rest of things too. If not, I guess I'll just hate on the crappy trolls.

[Auvic]

Would I be so odd if I named a rather new novel?

Namely, "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss.

:x

[SixStringSamurai]

Good Omens - Gaiman and Pratchett.

Because books don't have to be stuck up, they can just be weird and fun.

[Xachariah]

I liked Cryptonomicon, but I can't remember who the author was. . _ . Still, funny book. Pretty good.

[Eos]

I'd say Kurt Vonnegut is pretty essential for everybody. Breakfast of Champions is just a hilarious, fun read. It's a good book for a teenager who's just developing their own taste.

I can't contribute to this thread, so obviously I have to try and knock something down instead.

The Hobbit blew. It's been a while since my last read-through, but I'd really only understand the recommendations if they were intended for young, young readers who... nah, can't really think of how to justify it.
The trolls were named... what? stuff like "bill"? Great troll name there, tolkien. Oh, sorry. 'William', 'Bert' and 'Tom'. Right. And there's a feeling that this bleeds through into the rest of things too. If not, I guess I'll just hate on the crappy trolls.

God that is such a D&D nerd thing to say, really

[Xachariah]

I have to admit that I was a little WTF'd by the troll names, too. . _ . "Bill? Bert? Tom? Are these British trolls?"

[Moondog]

Terry Pratchett's "Night Watch" was really good, I'd gladly reccomend it.
And, now that I finally got a hold of it, Rob was right: Nigel Findley's "2XS", while sounding like a bad band name, is a pretty fun read.

[Eos]

I have to admit that I was a little WTF'd by the troll names, too. . _ . "Bill? Bert? Tom? Are these British trolls?"

YES

Middle-Earth is idealized England. That's part of it's point. If you want guys named Ghtasheahea who wield huge swords to cut whiny protagonists in half go ahead but don't expect Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit to be something it's not.

[Xachariah]

... okay, I hadn't thought of it that way before. O _ o Although... what was Sauron supposed to be, then?

[Bane]

Idealized england.

My view was relatively superficial. "Hm. Sauron? Yeah. Gollum, Gandalf, Smaug, B... bert?" Seemed like a major context breaker, especially for... well, monstrous trolls. You can't say it wouldn't even be a little weird to run into say, a large spider-monster named 'Tim'?
Is it because the trolls actually have enough of a culture or something?

I'm not completely buying it yet, but I'll lighten my criticism.

[TK²]

To be honest, a Troll's not all that intelligent. Especially Stone Trolls. They're not going to come up with very original names for themselves, are they?

[Bane]

That was why I expected something more crude, more grunted out. Just taking simple names sounds like a semi-plausible alternative though.

[TK²]

It's quite likely they took their names from people they've eaten or killed. I believe Sam told a tale about a hobbit named Tom who met a Stone Troll. They could name themselves like that too.

[Bane]

Alright, you've got me convinced.

[Joe]

The Earthsea saga, but Ursula K LeGuin

-G

Very much agreed, actually.  I can't believe I forgot to mention it.

[Joe]

It's quite likely they took their names from people they've eaten or killed. I believe Sam told a tale about a hobbit named Tom who met a Stone Troll. They could name themselves like that too.

um...'twasn't a hobbit...

Unless hobbits are tall and merry and have a feather in their cap and wear garish clothing.

My understanding is that it was Tom Bombadil.

Sauron and Gandalf are two sides of the same coin, much like one could say that about Gandalf and Saruman.  It's all in the Silmarillion.

Sauron is simply the single most powerful of their race, and was once the servant of Morgoth.  Also, basically a super high-powered Balrog.

All four being the same race.  They're Maiar.  Which, given the stories in the beginning of the Silmarillion...make them equivalent to the Vanir of the Norse or the lesser angels of the Christians/Jews.