Great novels

[Mikey]

I liked the movie; was it anything like the book?

No, the book wasn't animated.

Seriously, folks... I don't know, I didn't see the movie. Imagine, though, a typical Philip K. Dick mindf**k of a novel, then multiply that by the fact that the subject material in-character involves creating a mindf**k in the main character. Also, it was based on Dick's own experiences getting his mind f**ked by amphetamines and dropping out into some hippie counterculture after one of his divorces. As such, the language - which was intended to represent immersion in drug culture - has become a little dated... but if you can read A Clockwork Orange without knowing Russian, you can easily read this and get past that fact.

[Tsukiyumi]

I liked the movie; was it anything like the book?

No, the book wasn't animated.

Yeah, I walked right into that one.

[mwhittington]

My favorite authors:
Tom Clancy. That man is a genius. I have all his Jack Ryan and John Clark novels, and several of his NetForce books.
Robin Cook. I just got through reading Mutation. Wow.
Any of the Timothy Zahn SW novels. They are astounding, and I can't think of anyone who wrote SW better.
Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov for some amazing sci fi.
I'm currently reading Charles Sheffield's The Compleat McAndrew, which is a compilation of short stories about one professor Arthur McAndrew, set several hundred years in the future, as told by a space freighter captain named Jeanie Roker, with whom McAndrew often accompanies on her hauls to "conduct experiments". Until recently, I've never even heard of Sheffield, but a friend of mine gave me this, and I'm only partially through it, and I must say, he's brilliant. Has anyone else read Sheffield's stuff?

[Mikey]

If you like Robin Cook's stuff, I highly recommend early Michael Crichton, esp. The Andromeda Strain.

[mwhittington]

How could I have forgotten MC? I have Rising Sun and Airframe, and I really want Congo and Sphere. Unfortunately, since I've seen the movie first, I read John Connor's parts in a Sean Connery style Scottish accent.

[Mikey]

How could I have forgotten MC? I have Rising Sun and Airframe, and I really want Congo and Sphere. Unfortunately, since I've seen the movie first, I read John Connor's parts in a Sean Connery style Scottish accent.

Rising Sun and Airframe are really not good representations of his work. They were both written in the era of Crichton writing novels targetted toward screeplay adaptations, IMHO. Congo and Sphere are both excellent examples of what happens when a scientist writes sci-fi. The Andromeda Strain is similar, but even better as Crichton was a doctor by trade (I believe.) Eaters of the Dead was very good, I thought - don't go by the film adaptation, because that was as bad as the book was good. Jurassic Park was also great - again, don't be fooled by the movie; the film was an A/A ride, while the novel was cerebral and thrilling.

[Tyyr]

Crichton is great.

I have to agree with everything Mikey said though I do like Eaters of the Dead the movie as just a popcorn flick. I have never watched Sphere the movie and according to my wife I'm the better for it. I never cared for the later works of his like Prey. While there's nothing really wrong with the books persay there is almost a feeling of it being a "Crichton" novel with its own formula to follow. They just didn't capture the brainy, smart adventure of books like Jurrasic Park and Congo or the other worldlyness of something like Sphere, or the cerebral tension of Andromeda Strain. They were just... another sci-fi adventure book.

[Vic]

Eaters of the Dead is a favorite to this day, the movie was a good fun flick as a stand alone. The movie adaptation of The Andromeda Strain still wierds me out.

[Mikey]

Eaters of the Dead is a favorite to this day, the movie was a good fun flick as a stand alone. The movie adaptation of The Andromeda Strain still wierds me out.

Yeah, it does. It's also perhaps the best film adaptation of a Crichton novel.

[Nickswitz]

Which one? the newer one or the old one?

[Mikey]

Which one? the newer one or the old one?

The old one, mos def.

[Nickswitz]

Ah, well in that case I agree whole heartedly, my dad used to read me that book when I couldn't actually read... Yeah, I was enjoying those books when I was like 4. Then I continued reading them, as well as a ton of Asimov and the like.

[Vic]

Which one? the newer one or the old one?

The old one, mos def.

Indeed.

[Foxfyre]

I have allways enjoyed R.A. Salvatore's novels, one of my favorites is Starless Night.

[shran]

A new, perhaps somewhat recent addition: The Kinkiller chronicle, the first two books: The name of the wind and The wise man's fear, by Patrick Rothfuss.