Silkroad Online Forums

Wikipedia wrote:Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (1969) is a science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim.

Spoiler!

Wikipedia wrote:On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences. While many of the names and details of Kerouac's experiences are changed for the novel, hundreds of references in On the Road have real-world counterparts.

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

McLovin1t wrote:Animal Farm, Catch 22, 1984 are good reads (if you are into that sort of thing).

inky wrote:

McLovin1t wrote:Animal Farm, Catch 22, 1984 are good reads (if you are into that sort of thing).

I read 1984 but never got to reading Animal Farm. I will though, eventually. I moved to the US about 7 years ago so I was hardly exposed to anything but regular textbooks and some shitty monthly journals. Fucking provincial Catholic school education. I'm glad I got to study HS here though..even if they had to make me go 3 years back.

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

inky wrote:I read 1984 but never got to reading Animal Farm. I will though, eventually. I moved to the US about 7 years ago so I was hardly exposed to anything but regular textbooks and some shitty monthly journals. Fucking provincial Catholic school education. I'm glad I got to study HS here though..even if they had to make me go 3 years back.

The novel, set in post–Spanish Civil War Barcelona, concerns a young boy, Daniel Sempere. Just after the war, Daniel's father takes him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a huge library of old, forgotten titles lovingly preserved by a select few initiates. According to tradition, everyone initiated to this secret place is allowed to take one book from it, and must protect it for life. Daniel selects a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. That night he takes the book home and reads it, completely engrossed. Daniel then attempts to look for other books by this unknown author, but can find none. All he comes across are stories of a strange man – calling himself Laín Coubert, after a character in the book who happens to be the Devil – who has been seeking out Carax's books for decades, buying them all and burning them.

cpinney wrote:

Spoiler!

derp

DUDE! am like reading that right now...super special awsome book

Mark. wrote:Uh..I mostly read XIX and early XX century literature, so not many people may like what I do.

I enjoyed reading 1984 and Animal Farm, both by George Orwell. Both great books, both depict how crooked some totalitarian systems can be.

I read some russian short stories, Dostoevskij's and Puskin's and in spite of what people may say, they're nothing tough to read. I'm sorry I can't find the English version of the ones I read.

I found Waiting for Godot and Endgame by Samuel Becket both mind numbing, but great nonetheless.

I read a lot of short stories and out of the lot, I especially liked Odour of Chrysanthemums and The Rocking Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence, both sad, but thoughtful stories; I also liked The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, despite I did not enjoy The Picture of Dorian Gray as much.

A special mention should go to a Spanish contemporary literarature writer: Carlos Ruiz Zafón. His The Shadow of the Wind is one hell of masterpiece. I don't read much of 2000's books, but this one really got me.
I'm quite positive not many of you know it, so I'll just quote the plot from Wikipedia

The novel, set in post–Spanish Civil War Barcelona, concerns a young boy, Daniel Sempere. Just after the war, Daniel's father takes him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a huge library of old, forgotten titles lovingly preserved by a select few initiates. According to tradition, everyone initiated to this secret place is allowed to take one book from it, and must protect it for life. Daniel selects a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. That night he takes the book home and reads it, completely engrossed. Daniel then attempts to look for other books by this unknown author, but can find none. All he comes across are stories of a strange man – calling himself Laín Coubert, after a character in the book who happens to be the Devil – who has been seeking out Carax's books for decades, buying them all and burning them.

Another book he wrote a few years later, is The Angel's Game, almost 700 pages I went through in a six days' time lapse.
It's not very different from The Shadow of the Wind and is set 30 years before the former, in Barcelona. It's just..they're both great, I couldn't put either down.

Right now I'm reading The Garden Party and Other Stories, a collection of 15 stories by Katherine Mansfield. This New Zealand woman mostly wrote about everyday's life, a subject that some find boring, but which I love because life is not just made up of great events, but also by every little action of ours. And the way she could put down on paper these almost insignificant gestures made me love her (books) from the very first times I read her (books).

Gaigemasta wrote:A Clockwork Orange

iGod wrote:The little prince.

Content:
Wizard's First Rule

Spoiler!

Great book, longer than average read; every time I look back at the events in this book, it plays like a movie. Terry Goodkind has a nice way of putting the words into your head, I've been meaning to read the rest of the Sword of Truth series.

Anthem

Spoiler!

Read it for school, extremely intriguing concept and engaging plot; it really makes you think, kind of a mindfuck. Quick read, as well.

And Then There Were None

Spoiler!

Good Mystery book, had me stuck on it until I finished it.

Spoiler!