Best Books and Movies!

Hello again, Forum,

Well, it's been a busy week, but I figure it'd be good to start back up again with some new topics. I've been looking for some more books to read (Reading Black Hawk Down right now), but it's always nice to know of a new book to read next.

So, what books have you been reading?
What do you think of them? Would you recommend the book?
Of course, it's open to intellectual books, or fun books to kick back on the floor or sofa and read in spare time.

Heck, though, why not limit it to books? Movies are another source of intellectual content and hilarity. Any good movies? If so, why? What's your favorite book or movie?

- 3D

Not exactly a movie, but if you have Netflix instant streaming, then definitely watch Monk. It's a detective show from a couple years ago, 2002 if I remember correctly. It went on for a couple years, but then ended a few years ago. They made a total of about 120 episodes, so it'll last quite a long time. It's all about this amazing detective guy named Adrian Monk, but he's constantly plagued with all kinds of odd phobias and obsessive-compulsive habits since his wife died. It can be pretty funny and the plots can be fun to follow along with, so I would highly suggest watching it if you can.

Ah, yes, I remember seeing that at a hotel on TV once. I've heard good things about from all round. I only saw one episode, (Maybe two) so I don't have a good idea for how good or bad it is. I don't have TV at home, nor Netflix, though, so not much opportunity to watch it.

Have you guys seen Inception? If so, what did you think of it? I personally really liked it.

Only novel I enjoyed reading was the Outsiders. One heck of a good read.

Also, as for movies, I'd say one of my recent favorites is Pulp Fiction. One hell of a good movie by the genius of Quinton Tarantino.

Exerpt from one of my favorite scenes: SPOILER WARNING

Spoiler:

And on the subject of inception:


One big O_o expression, but it was awesome.

Never seen Inception.

However, I highly suggest reading books by Michael Crichton. He's probably my favorite author of all time. Some of his books that I read are Jurassic Park, The Lost World, The Great Train Robbery, The Andromeda Strain, and Timeline. So far, I've never been disappointed by any of his books. He mostly specializes in science fiction, but has also dabbled in some historical fiction (like The Great Train Robbery and Pirate Latitudes). I'm still planning on reading some more of his books, like Congo and State of Fear.

He's dead now, so he won't be making any more books, I'm sorry to say. It turns out that Pirate Latitudes, a book of his that I never finished, was published after his death.

How To Train Your Dragon is awesome.

I like the Ranger's Apprentice Series by John Flanagan, but thats me, lol my favorite quote came from it...

"O i see so he knows I'll do that but I know he'll know that I'll do that but he'll know that to so in the end I end up doing the first thing!"

"Uh, could you repeat that Will?"

"I don't think I can..."

I loved the Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale. Great books.

Thank you all for the suggestions, they should certainly keep me busy for a while.
I saw X-Men first class recently, thought it was quite good. Nice special effects in it, too. Anyone else see it?

- 3D

My favourite book and movie is Scott Pilgrim vs the World. CB
Screw the ratings, Scott Pilgrim is a GREAT movie.

I recommend anything written by Terry Pratchett, his Discworld books are some of the best satire I've ever read. I first got into them by picking up a copy of the 25th Discworld novel, 'The Truth', which says something about how closely you need to stick to the order in which they were published when you read them. 'Nation' is a more recent stand-alone by the same author, so I might recommend that specifically.

Now if you want to be a real movie hipster you should try Cyrano de Bergerac (the original one!) and Pan's Labyrinth (no, not the one with David Bowie and his... well, you know the one I mean!). Strange that the only two films that really stick in my mind as being my favorites are foreign language with English subtitles -- French and Spanish respectively. Don't be deterred, though, they're both true modern classics.

Oh, oh, and Neil Gaiman's books! Some really great surreal fantasy, and no worries if the metaphysical stuff starts to bend the mind -- that's the idea. And don't even get me started on what happens when you put Gaiman and Pratchett in a blender...

Hitchhiker's Guide, all books.

I carry a towel with me at all times.

Lord of the Rings, great books. Great movies.

Drew980 wrote:

Lord of the Rings, great books. Great movies.

Indeed.
I very much enjoyed those.
Good author, good books.
I know it's controversial, but I personally also liked the Harry Potter books written by JK Rowling. It's been said that they're advocating Witchcraft, Wizardry in real life, promoting belief in Satan, a point which I could refute for eons to come, but that's besides the point.

What'd you think of the Harry Potter books, if you read them?

- 3D

3DBlenderRender wrote:

It's been said that they're advocating Witchcraft, Wizardry in real life, promoting belief in Satan, a point which I could refute for eons to come, but that's besides the point.

The people who make those claims don't even know what Wicca and Witchcraft is or how it actually works. Might as well go back to the Salem Witch Trials and identify witches by if their moles bleed or not and then pelt them with rocks.

How To Train Your Dragon is a great film indeed.

I've read all the books to Harry Potter and nearly saw all the films (Though I honestly perfer the books).

Terry Pratchet is good too and I only have one of his books called I Shall Wear Midnight.

I personaly like Rick Riordan's books but my fave ones are the Percy Jackson's series.

Sometimes I read non fantasy books and I always love reading fantasy books the most,

PrincessNintendo wrote:

How To Train Your Dragon is a great film indeed.

I've read all the books to Harry Potter and nearly saw all the films (Though I honestly perfer the books).

Terry Pratchet is good too and I only have one of his books called I Shall Wear Midnight.

I personaly like Rick Riordan's books but my fave ones are the Percy Jackson's series.

Sometimes I read non fantasy books and I always love reading fantasy books the most,

Yeah! I really enjoyed Percy Jackson for some light reading, really fun books for sure.
What do you think of his newer series? There's the Egyptian series, and also the new Greek one. I personally found that the Egyptian series needed a bit of reading for it to really get interesting and overall wasn't quite as good as the Percy Jackson series, but still enjoyable of course. The newer characters in the Greek sequel are OK, but I think only Leo was on par with the characters from Percy Jackson. I think Percy Jackson may be the only book where my favorite character was the main character,

- 3D

3DBlenderRender wrote:

I saw X-Men first class recently, thought it was quite good. Nice special effects in it, too. Anyone else see it?

I did. It's my favorite of the five X-Men movies so far. Great story, interesting characters, and...

-- SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't seen the movie --

Spoiler:

Yeah! I really enjoyed Percy Jackson for some light reading, really fun books for sure.
What do you think of his newer series? There's the Egyptian series, and also the new Greek one. I personally found that the Egyptian series needed a bit of reading for it to really get interesting and overall wasn't quite as good as the Percy Jackson series, but still enjoyable of course. The newer characters in the Greek sequel are OK, but I think only Leo was on par with the characters from Percy Jackson. I think Percy Jackson may be the only book where my favorite character was the main character,

- 3D[/quote]

Well the newer ones are fine and all but they don't really match up that well compared to the Percy Jackson series. I do agree with you that they are still enjoyable to read. My fave characters would have to be Tyson (Percy's half brother), Leo and Festius.

Percy Jackson is awesome, How to Train Your Dragon is awesome, a lot of the stuff posted here is awesome.

I'm currently reading The Cat of Bubastes (probably spelled that wrong) for school. It's pretty interesting, if you like Egyptian history.

I watched Inception, 9, and Rio recently, all movies with very different styles, but all equally good.

Dragonman9 wrote:

Percy Jackson is awesome, How to Train Your Dragon is awesome, a lot of the stuff posted here is awesome.

I'm currently reading The Cat of Bubastes (probably spelled that wrong) for school. It's pretty interesting, if you like Egyptian history.

I watched Inception, 9, and Rio recently, all movies with very different styles, but all equally good.

I heard that after the Egyptian Trilogy, and the (I think) 5 books of the new Greek series he's going to make a viking one... feasts with beer for everyone!!!

Has anyone ever heard or read the Edge chronicles? My fave books to them are Curse of the Goalm Gozer and The Immortals.

Yeah, they're a really imaginative series of books, with some quirky but incredibly detailed illustrations. I'm lead to believe, but not certain, that The Immortals was to be the last in the series... Which is unfortunate, because it looks like they just set up a whole new era that they could spend an entire trilogy exploring.

My favorite would have to be Midnight over Sanctaphrax.

Well it's a real pity cause I would have loved to see them make a triology to the last one but alas...when I was in England for my last days of summer, I saw this picture of the possible long awaited fourth book to the Eragon series. I forgot the name of it but I hope it comes out here very soon.