Sunday, September 24, 2006 | By: Patrick

One Book. . .

I've been seeing this thing for months now. So I figured it was about time for me to do it!:-)

1. One book that changed my life is:

Without the shadow of a doubt, Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. A whole new generation of readers fell in love with the fantasy genre by reading the Dragonlance Chronicles. I wouldn't be doing this today if it wasn't for these two authors.

2. One book that I've read more than once is:

Hmmm, there is a number of them. . . One that comes to mind is Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World. Up to the sixth volume of The Wheel of Time, I kept rereading the entire series when a new installment was released. A series which I'll evidently reread at some point is Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen.

3. One book I'd want on a desert island is:

Probably Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos. In my opinion, it's the best volume of The Wheel of Time, with an ending that blew my mind. I can still remember reading it for the first time, when Mazrim Taim and the Asha'man surround the Aes Sedai. "You will kneel to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt." Pretty good stuff, that!;-) Steven Erikson's Memories of Ice would make a great candidate as well.

4. One book that made me laugh is:

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens was a lot of fun. So was Gaiman's Anansi Boys last year.

5. One book that made me cry is:

Hmmm, can't quite recall a book that actually made me cry. But I have to say that there were a few powerful scenes in Robin Hobb's Fool's Fate that really touched me. In addition, that scene in Robert Jordan's Knife of Dreams, the one in which we discover that Lan wouldn't ride alone in the Last Battle, was quite something.

6. One book that I wish had been written is:

Dune 7 by Frank Herbert.

7. One book that I wish had never been written is:

Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind, as well as every subsequent Sword of Truth installment. Not only was that a crappy novel to begin with, it was a lame Ayn Rand manifesto. The first book in which Goodkind showed his true colors. Funny how most "serious" readers and aficionados of the genre dropped this series as if it were a stinky turd at that point. . .

8. One book I'm currently reading is:

Next up is Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things.

9. One book I've been meaning to read is:

Oh boy, there are so many of them awaiting my attention. But one that's been nagging at me for a while now is Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Feel free to do the same, if you are so inclined. . .:-)

5 commentaires:

maschine said...

Hm, some tough questions..

1. ..changed my life:
I have no idea.
When I was 7 or 8 I read a book on greek myths, which somehow got me hooked on epic fantasy (I guess), other important books were Reaper Man (my first Terry Pratchett book), the Lord of the Rings and Steven Erikson's Deadhouse Gates, which blew me away.
But none of them really changed my life.

2. ..I've read more than once (and twice):
The Lord of the Rings (a few years in a row I read it every summer) and a few Discworld books

3. ..I'd want on a desert island:
Survival on a Desert Island for Dummies
or Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide series

4. ..made me laugh:
I go with Good Omens, too.
And nearly everything else by Terry Pratchett. And Douglas Adams.
And the first Myth books by Robert Asprin.

5. ..made me cry:
None really made me cry, but the end of Hemmingway's Old Man & the Sea quite moved me.

6. ..I wish had been written:
The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams. His death really came as a shock to me.

7. ..I wish had never been written:
What about the bible? No inquisition, no progromes and holocaust, no oppression of science..

8. ..I'm currently reading:
John C. Wright's Last Guardian of Everness

9. ..I'v been meaning to read:
Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach and Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

8:52 PM
Alrin said...

3. One Book that I'd want on a desert island is:
I'll echo Memories of Ice

5. One book that made me cry is:
While for me it was Dark Tower 7, I'll also admit to getting a wee bit choked up at the same seen you mentioned from Knife of Dreams

5:13 AM
Sparky said...

1. ..changed my life:

I've been reading forever. The only way I can answer this is to state my all-time favorite: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I think you'd find quite a few people who keep me company in that opinion...

2. ..I've read more than once (and twice):

None. Yet. The to-read pile never gets any smaller, so...


3. ..I'd want on a desert island:

The complete Dickens? Shakespeare? One book only? Infinite Jest.

4. ..made me laugh:

Pound for pound, I think Neal Stephenson is a stitch...

5. ..made me cry:

I cry at movies, but not books or music.

6. ..I wish had been written:

Infinite Jest

7. ..I wish had never been written:

The Bible? Koran?

8. ..I'm currently reading:

Deadhouse Gates (yes, I'm behind)

9. ..I'v been meaning to read:

Yeesh. I need to finish all the Patrick O'Brian books, for one...

10:30 AM
lee said...

changed my life:
the hobbit,it was the first book that i ever read and got me hooked on fantasy

read more than twice:
shogun by james clavell,which i have read about ten times,and the lord of the rings plus plenty of others

i'd want on a desert island:
shogun

made me laugh:
tom sharpes wilt
made me cry:
end of taipan by james clavell

wish had been written:
the next in james clavells series before he died

wish had never been written:
any religous texts

currently reading:
winters heart by robert jordan

meaning to read:
malazen book of the fallen

3:02 PM
Race said...

Call, me a sap, but that same scene in Knife of Dreams got to me too. :p

I'd comment on a couple in ASOIAF, but I know you are still reading it. ;)

11:42 PM

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