Writing Good Books

[Mitch]

[i]Their Eyes Were Watching God[/i] by Zora Neale Hurston. It's an excellent book. I didn't think I would like it when I read it, but I love it. It's got poetic narration and a good meat of it is colloquial dialogue that's well-done.

[Semjaza]

[quote name='KarmaOfChaos][color=deeppink][size=1][b]The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe[/b], by C.S. Lewis. Easily one of my favorite fantasy books ever, the story of a group of children who wander into wardrobe and enter into a whole new world - it allows the reader to enact one of the basic fantasies we all have - to escape from our own world into something completely different and mystical.[/size'][/color][/quote]

If you're going to mention that one, you might as well mention the entire series. They're worth reading all together and not simply as separate entities. Personally, I don't agree with the general idea everyone has that The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the best of the series... but it's definitely amazing either way.

[Boo]

[color=gray][size=1][b]Discworld Books[/b] [i]by Terry Pratchett[/i], incredibly funny fantasy books.

[b]Any book of[/b] [i]Raymond E. Feist[/i], his books are excellent fantasy books ^^
I advice starting with Magician, it's one of the best books ever written imo. It's seperated into 2 parts, in which the mainrole is a lad who is becoming a magician (didn't think that right?). During the book there's a war raging, they meet dwarves, elves, dark elves (they have other names though), a gate to an other world opens and a lot more. You [i]must[/i] read it.

[b]Songmaster[/b] [i]by Orson Scottcard[/i] Brilliant book, plays in the future, but it could might aswell be any other era. Great psychological book that couldn't get out of my mind.
"Kidnapped at an early age, the young singer Ansset has been raised in isolation at the mystical retreat called the Songhouse. His life has been filled with music, and having only songs for companions, he develops a voice that is unlike any heard before. Ansset's voice is both a blessing and a curse, for the young Songbird can reflect all the hopes and fears his audience feels and, by magnifying their emotions, usse his voice to heal -- or to destroy. When it is discovered that his is the voice that the Emperor has waited decades for, Ansset is summoned to the Imperial Palace on Old Earth. Many fates rest in Ansset's hands, and his songs will soon be put to the test: either to salve the troubled conscience of a conqueror, or drive him, and the universe, into mad chaos."
I was too lazy to write my own review and I thought this one was excellent >.>

[b]Boris[/b] [i]has a lot of different authors[/i], it's a book about a boy in Russia while the World War II is raging. Nice book, you should find a bit mature version of the book. ^^;

I would meantion more but they are all dutch =P
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[elfpirate]

[b]Well, hmmm... there are so very many good books... where do I begin?[/b]

[b]JRR Tolkien's books-- naturally...[/b]

[b]Anything by CS Lewis-- [u]The Chronicles of Narnia[/u], his space/sci fi trilogy, [u]Princess and the Goblin[/u], [u]Till We Have Faces[/u], and on and on...(fantasy/sci-fi and fiction, for the most part)[/b]

[b][u]The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy[/u] series (comedy sci fi)[/b]

[b]This may be a no-brainer, but:[/b]

[b][u]1984 [/u]and [u]Animal Farm[/u] (not-so-fiction-type of fiction- social messages)[/b]

[b]If you're mature enough to handle some (okay-- lots and lots of) adult language, situations, etc... and don't mind reading in thick dialect, I suggest you read some of Irvine Welsh's works. His most well-known book in America is probably [u]Trainspotting.[/u] I warn you, though, that the man commits to paper things that most people wouldn't even admit to just thinking about. His works will disturb you as much as they delight you...;) [/b]

[b]But if you're looking for some non-fiction or true story types of books, check these out if you haven't already:[/b]

[b][u]Night[/u] by Elie Wiesel (I may have misspelled his name) Don't read this unless you like books that seriously manipulate your emotions, because it is the memoirs of a holocaust survivor-- beautiful and hideous all at once... It's a very powerful book.[/b]

[b][u]Angela's Ashes[/u] by Frank McCourt (memoirs-- the excellently written comic tragedy of McCourt's youth in Ireland)[/b]

[b]I could fill pages and pages on this thread with recommendations, but I'll leave it at that for now.[/b]