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Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 2:08 pm
by Ledsmith
Finn wrote: Hehe, I always found Matthew Reilley's books to be of the sort "Based on a BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE" style, rather than the other way around, but each to his own...

The books are very good, I found, they can be read, in ignorance of the anti-religious themes, much like Narnia books could be read while ignoring the dogma (although it may be more difficult now that you're aware of the themes)
Thats what I like most about Mattew Reilley, I don't have to think to read his books. I can just enjoy the fast paced action. I think I read all the scarecrow books and 7 deadly wonders in one month. It took me three months just to read one harry potter book.

As for Narnia, I know I read them when I was 8 but I didn't see any "dogma" in them and I recently saw Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe and barely notice any in the movie. What am I missing?

The Matrix Trilogy reeked of christian dogma but I didn't care because it was a fun adventure.

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 2:29 pm
by Finn
Ledsmith wrote: As for Narnia, I know I read them when I was 8 but I didn't see any "dogma" in them and I recently saw Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe and barely notice any in the movie. What am I missing?

The Matrix Trilogy reeked of christian dogma but I didn't care because it was a fun adventure.
That's what I liked about the Narnia series. I read it as a young kid, and all the Christian propaganda went straight over my head, and I enjoyed the books for their adventure value. Re-reading them again now, all the Christian imagery pops out and is so very heavy handed, I realise how clueless I was back then in regards to allegory (although not by Lewis' definition, which is more of a 'supposal') =)

For a simple example from TLTWATW:

Aslan -> Jesus
Stone Table -> Crucifix
Sacrificed for a traitor (Edmund) -> Christ dying for the sinners
Coming back from the dead -> Resurrection
Susan and Lucy tending to his body and seeing him first alive -> Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

and so on and so forth. It gets somewhat more obvious in the other books like The Last Battle.

It will be interesting to see how the themes are portrayed or glossed over in the movies.

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:58 am
by Sancria
So I was wandering around in the bookstore and I happened to find an absolute GEM of a book

Jim Butcher wrote a series of books, about a guy who's a Private Investigator, who happens to be a Wizard.

It reads somewhat like the first few books of the Anita Blake series, but has a much more playful style I really appreciated.

Paul Dresein (sic) Files I think it's called. I'd go grab it, it's in the other room, but honestly it's 3am, I've been drinking and looking for more stuff to read on the net.

Oh. I think he has a few teaser chapters up on the net as well if you find yourself wondering about it. :)

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:58 am
by Sancria
So I was wandering around in the bookstore and I happened to find an absolute GEM of a book

Jim Butcher wrote a series of books, about a guy who's a Private Investigator, who happens to be a Wizard.

It reads somewhat like the first few books of the Anita Blake series, but has a much more playful style I really appreciated.

Paul Dresein (sic) Files I think it's called. I'd go grab it, it's in the other room, but honestly it's 3am, I've been drinking and looking for more stuff to read on the net.

Oh. I think he has a few teaser chapters up on the net as well if you find yourself wondering about it. :)

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:11 pm
by Wicketklown001
Sancria wrote:So I was wandering around in the bookstore and I happened to find an absolute GEM of a book

Jim Butcher wrote a series of books, about a guy who's a Private Investigator, who happens to be a Wizard.

It reads somewhat like the first few books of the Anita Blake series, but has a much more playful style I really appreciated.

Paul Dresein (sic) Files I think it's called. I'd go grab it, it's in the other room, but honestly it's 3am, I've been drinking and looking for more stuff to read on the net.

Oh. I think he has a few teaser chapters up on the net as well if you find yourself wondering about it. :)
They also made this into a tv series on the sci-fi channel (The Dresden Files). I don't watch much TV so I can't say whether the series is any good or not but I think it's cool they turned a decent book series into a TV series.

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:25 am
by Journeywoman
Wicketklown001 wrote:
Sancria wrote:So I was wandering around in the bookstore and I happened to find an absolute GEM of a book

Jim Butcher wrote a series of books, about a guy who's a Private Investigator, who happens to be a Wizard.

It reads somewhat like the first few books of the Anita Blake series, but has a much more playful style I really appreciated.

Paul Dresein (sic) Files I think it's called. I'd go grab it, it's in the other room, but honestly it's 3am, I've been drinking and looking for more stuff to read on the net.

Oh. I think he has a few teaser chapters up on the net as well if you find yourself wondering about it. :)
They also made this into a tv series on the sci-fi channel (The Dresden Files). I don't watch much TV so I can't say whether the series is any good or not but I think it's cool they turned a decent book series into a TV series.
The TV show The Dresden Files is cool. I really enjoy it. I have never read the book however so I cannot comment on how much they have or have not butchered the stories however :P .

Re: Good Books (Scifi) - "The Dresden Files" by Jim Butcher

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:27 am
by Shadowhawk
Journeywoman wrote:The TV show The Dresden Files is cool. I really enjoy it. I have never read the book however so I cannot comment on how much they have or have not butchered the stories however :P .
From what I've read the TV show and the books share the same universe (with minor changes), but they have different storylines. See Wikipedia for more info.

I've only read the books, and they are very good IMHO.

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:38 pm
by padfoot
I think I have almost all of the books mentioned so far in ebooks, if u want any of them send me a request in a private message.

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:44 pm
by Mysterious
I have 2 say dling this library is a killer...

ETA is like 1 week and I'm using broadband. I really hope Rudd quickly imlements his high-speed broadband plan otherwise I'm goin 2 punch a wall or something equally stupid.


Mysterious

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:26 pm
by padfoot
I'v been downloading it for over a month, mine got corrupted after 2 GB and got deleted somehow and had to start over again. Neways you dont have to download the whole thing, you can just download the authors that you want.

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:21 pm
by zedd
Mysterious wrote:I have 2 say dling this library is a killer.
:? what library :?:

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:14 pm
by Mysterious
S***. Sorry. :oops:


Mysterious

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:05 pm
by Spec8472
<admin mood="cranky">
Folks, please don't link to, or give instructions on how to pirate eBooks/Videos/etc here.

<#include file="/rants/why-you-should-just-borrow-or-buy-the-book.htm" />

Just don't do it. It's really not worth a DMCA takedown notice for this site.
</admin>

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:49 pm
by Gladiatory2k
Spec8472 wrote:<admin mood="cranky">
Folks, please don't link to, or give instructions on how to pirate eBooks/Videos/etc here.

<#include file="/rants/why-you-should-just-borrow-or-buy-the-book.htm" />

Just don't do it. It's really not worth a DMCA takedown notice for this site.
</admin>
I know it's a pipe dream but I hope that some day the publishers start to include little sd cards with an .rtf of the book you purchased. Maybe include it in the hard cover novels. I have no problem buying the book, but I like to read books while, ahem, working and reading an electronic file in word is a good way to hide my hideous waste of company time. Heck I would even be willing to buy the elecronic files if I didn't have to read it in some proprietary program I have to load into a computer.

But then again, I am finding some really good work on the internet like fel's books and other authors who have taken to publishing books on-line. Honestly I think stories like Subjugation and the whole Sennadar collection are much better than some of the drek you find sitting in the brick and mortar stores.

Re: Good Books (Scifi)

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:57 am
by Spec8472
Gladiatory2k wrote: Heck I would even be willing to buy the elecronic files if I didn't have to read it in some proprietary program I have to load into a computer.
Baen through their Webscription arm are doing both these things you're asking for (CDs with hardcover books and electronic-only in a variety of formats including RTF). It's been linked previously, but go here for more info: http://www.webscription.net / http://www.baen.com

There's also the Baen free library at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ which contains (litterally) dozens of books.