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Post by elysium on Mar 22, 2004 21:24:09 GMT -5
Okay, so I have to stay inside for the next few weeks (doctor's orders ) and I seriously need stuff to do. Tell me what you guys do when you're sick. I'm planning on getting lots of books to read when my mum goes into "town" (the nearest bookshop is 1.5 hours away) so anyone have any suggestions? Like besides HP, what's the best book you've ever read?
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Post by Victoria on Mar 22, 2004 22:05:21 GMT -5
A few weeks? That kinda sucks... Ok... books. heheehe, I could talk about books for ever... I don't know how easy it is to find outside the UK, but Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is brilliant. It's comic fantasy... very very funny! I always laugh out loud when I read any of it, and people give me funny looks. same problem with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy in four parts...), by Douglas Adams. (sci-fi, not fantasy, but kinda similar.) And if you like sci-fi/adventure sort of stuff, The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold is good too. It's another long series... should last a while! Oh, and Roald Dahl of course! One of my favourite authors of all time. Particularly Boy and Going Solo, and loads of short stories... like in Ah, sweet Mystery of Life. And if you want something really long to fill the time... I read The Jewel in the Crown a while ago. It's the first in a series called The Raj Quartet, by Paul Scott. It's unbelievably difficult to read, took me absolutely ages, and I usually read really fast - but I promise it's worth it. good book.
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Post by meatnmilk on Mar 22, 2004 22:07:19 GMT -5
You could try Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time' series, there are so far 10 books in the series so that ought to take up a chunk of your downtime. If you like commedy Ben Elton's 'Stark' is amusing.
How about some Anne Rice if you have not already been there done that....the first three 'Vampire Chronicles' are quite good, as is the 'Mayfair Witches' series.
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Post by elysium on Mar 22, 2004 22:08:40 GMT -5
Good! I want books that will take me forever. I'm going to have a LOT of time on my hands. Everyone keeps telling me to read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...is it awfully sci-fi, because I don't like sci-fi that much.
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Post by Victoria on Mar 22, 2004 22:21:19 GMT -5
Well, I'd say it's comedy first, sci-fi second. I reckon you could enjoy it... I don't like fantasy (LOTR bores me, for instance), but I really really like Discworld, and that's sort of the equivalent, if you see what I mean.
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Post by elysium on Mar 22, 2004 22:26:16 GMT -5
Discworld? What, like a world of people on roller skates wearing leisure suits? *is confused*
My mum has an Anne Rice book downstairs, and its cover is a depiction of a girl hanging from a tree with an arrow in her armpit. It gave me nightmares when I was 11, lol, so now I think I have an Anne Rice phobia. Although I didn't mind the Interview With A Vampire film (except when they ate rats, yuck). But Prongs has been telling me to read the Wheel of Time books for ages, so I think I'll do that too.
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Post by Victoria on Mar 22, 2004 22:30:37 GMT -5
LOL! Discworld is about... well, Discworld - it's a flat, disc shaped world, carried on the backs of 4 elephants, who in turn stand on the shell of the great A'Tuin, the turtle, who swims through space... Discworld is inhabited by incompetent wizards, not-so-incompetent witches, trolls, dwarves, assassins, heros, etc., not to mention a lot of very ordinary people, most of whom consider spelling to be optional. It's a very very very good series. Read it!
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Post by meatnmilk on Mar 22, 2004 22:32:30 GMT -5
I read one Anne Rice book which I really didnt like. The two series I pointed out are 'fantasy' ie vampire witches, the book I didnt like (which was very well writen and compelling, but which I didnt like because of the awfull events it dipicted, very depressing) was more 'historic realism'.
I have only read the first 'Hitch-hikers Guide' books, and they are very funny, they are set in a sci-fi setting, but are more in the commedy genre than sci-fi.
I havent read discworld, but I have heard only good things about it, apparently its very funny and entertaining.
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Post by elysium on Mar 22, 2004 22:33:50 GMT -5
LOL, it's (almost) late...for some reason I thought we were saying Discoworld.
Sounds good though, I'll have my mum look for it.
PS: What time is it where you guys are, anyways?
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Post by meatnmilk on Mar 22, 2004 22:35:13 GMT -5
In Auckland (City of Sails) it is 3.28pm.
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Post by elysium on Mar 22, 2004 22:38:09 GMT -5
Oh wow. It's almost 10:30 pm here. The City of Sails, eh? Sounds pretty. Isn't it summer there? Is it sunny? Yeah, I'm a bit obsesseive, I'm dying for some sun! It was so pretty outside I just couldn't resist trying to sneak out for a few minutes, but when I got out there it was sooo cold. Argh.
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Post by meatnmilk on Mar 22, 2004 22:58:23 GMT -5
It should be Autum, but we had a late summer this year. Today is very sunny.
Auckland is called the city of sails, because it has a harbour on the East and West Coast (and so sailing and water sports are popular activities), no one is further than a 10-15 minutes from the coast, (in fact 90% of New Zealanders live within 40 minutes drive of a coastal beach).
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Post by elysium on Mar 22, 2004 23:03:15 GMT -5
Yeah, I've heard that; and it's the same in Austrailia. Do you have to go very far inland to see all that beautiful mountain scenery, like where they filmed LOTR?
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Post by pantstheterrible on Mar 22, 2004 23:04:10 GMT -5
You should read His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman since you obviously like fantasy. They're really neato. They are The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spy Glass.
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Post by elysium on Mar 22, 2004 23:15:21 GMT -5
^ I didn't like them. I just can't enjoy a book that says everything I believe in is a lie, unless I read it wrong or something. I was only about 12 when I read them anyway.
I know what you mean about depressing; The Bell Jar had me sad for days.
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