Are Ye Lettered Men?

[Megs]

Here are some of my favorites:

Dracula - Bram Stroker
A Secret Garden
To Kill a Mockingbird
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Red Tent
Anything by Maya Angelou ( both poems and novels)
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
The Diary of Anne Frank


I must admit that I just read James Patterson's Cradle and All, and thought it was very entertaining. I also liked his Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. Quick, fun reads. And while I am admitting to embarrasing likes, I also loved Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember.

[Nostradamus]

Rogue Warrior by Richard Marcinko (First book is about how he founded Seal Team 6... the rest of his books in the series are fiction. They are also good)

Mike, did you see the Red Cell VHS? It's got actual video clips of Marcinko's security assessment raids on U.S. installations. The Keystone cops at those bases crack me up. I find it both reasuring and disturbing that Big Brother isn't as omniscient and invincible as he would like us to think.

[mglenn]

Yup... my shooting partner and good friend ( who also is the guy who introduced me to Carlos Hathcock ) has a copy. Its a shame that they did what they did to Marcinko for just doing his job. Especially in light of 9/11.

OFFTOPIC and ONLY MY VIEWS, Not reflective of anyone elses views but my own: I feel that this is the greatest country in which to live. If we followed the Constitution completely instead of calling it a "living document" in need of "interpretation" we would be much better off. We need people like Marcinko to keep us on our toes. There will never be a time when everyone in the world likes us and that alone means we must always be prepared for the worst. But we must temper that with freedom and liberty.

I like to site flight 93 as an example of what it is to be an American. The Hijackers spent years being indoctrinated and brainwashed into Extremist Islam so that they would be willing to sacrafice their lives for their cause. The other passangers on the plane, who got up that morning with no other plans than to either return home to their familys or attend a business meeting, when faced with a threat to their lives and the lives of other americas took only minutes to make the decision that they were willing to sacrifice their lives. I feel that these actions are what is required of eveyone who truly understands what it means to be free.

It is said that the only thing required for evil to overcome freedom and liberty, is for good men to do nothing. I must admit that I am not happy with the current tread in this country to track everyone looking for questionable activities. For anyone who's life is put under a microscope like that will be found to doing something that is not legal or morally just. I myself was told by a judge that his only advice was to live by the rules of the Ten Commandments. If you did that he said, you would never see the inside of his court. But the current trend is not so. As an american I must be willing to defend the freedoms I enjoy with my life. We should not diminish those freedoms. To pull another quote "Those who sacrifice Liberty for temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor safety."

But alast I digress and could continue this rant for quite sometime. I now return you to your regularly schedule program already in progress... oooh look a bright shiney object...

[K-man]

WOW! Mike Glenn getting involved.

[Nostradamus]

I find it both reasuring and disturbing that Big Brother isn't as omniscient and invincible as he would like us to think.

Yeah... maybe that was a little more of my personal politics than anyone wanted to know. I'm really sorry if I put anyone on edge with that one. My internal censor is usually pretty good at weeding that out, but it was too slow this time, I guess. Mike, you have a cooler head than I. Thank you for your even-handed response. I think I'll follow your lead on this one and get back on topic ASAP -- I still haven't told everyone what the Discworld is...

[dTheater]

Sphere was great, but don't waste your time with the movie!

That was maybe the biggest disappointment of my life.

Airframe by Michael Crichton

That was a great Crichton book. Definitely one people seem to forget of his work.

Since the word "book" is so undefined, add the Ghost World comic book and Calvin and Hobbes collections to my list. Oh and "Of Mice and Men" and "Ten Little Indians"

[Nostradamus]

To get a bit OT in this thread, you mentioned Vampire: The Masquerade, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the TV adaptation, Kindred: the Embraced. I admit that I never read the RPG books but I have enjoyed the threads releated to Masquerade in other White Wolf titles and do own some of the clan books that I have yet to read.

NIGHTJESSI, this looks like a case of the blind leading the blind, since you didn't play the game and I never saw the show! I think I saw a VHS box set in a local shop not long ago, do you think it's worth buying, or has it been released on DVD? You seem to have a knack for tracking down obscure TV info, so maybe you could get me a list of the names behind the series, especially creators, producers, writers, creative consultants, etc. I can at least compare those to the credits in the Masquerade and let you know what I find. Mark Rein-Hagen was the originator of the RPG, and he certainly could have written scripts if he had a mind to. By the way, the first edition Tremere clanbook has a really nice ink bouquet, if you can find it. (Sorry, old addictions die hard)

[NIGHTJESSI]

You can find out more about the series on the Internet Movie Database at http://us.imdb.com/Title?0115232 . As for the series, I have seen many of the RPGers unhappy with the series, but I enjoyed the series a great deal. While MRH had an executive producer credit with the show, I got the impression from a previous K:te list that I was on that the show didn't follow the RPG except in a very loose sense.

As for more information on the home-viewing release, Amazon.com has information on the VHS three-tape set at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 05-8257628 and the DVD two-disc set at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 05-8257628 .

[Nostradamus]

As for the series, I have seen many of the RPGers unhappy with the series, but I enjoyed the series a great deal. While MRH had an executive producer credit with the show, I got the impression from a previous K:te list that I was on that the show didn't follow the RPG except in a very loose sense.

I compared the RPG credits with those on IMDB and found no matches other than MRH, but I did notice the show's cinematographer, Ernest Holzman, brother to Winnie! Small world, eh? The customer reviews on Amazon seemed divided about whether the show was faithful to the game, and I noticed a few discrepancies in the plot summary, but I'll have to see the series to know for sure. Since the listed prices for VHS and DVD were quite reasonable, I'll probably be giving it a try soon. Thanks for the tip!

[Guest]

...I'm finally answering StrawberryGirl's question:

I'm most likely revealing my sad, sad lack of knowledge regarding all things literary, but- I don't know anything about Terry Pratchett. What type of stuff does he write? Those titles sound sci fi, which would normally turn me off, but with that glowing recommendation, I don't know...

The MSCL.com team (mglenn & sab) got off to a good start by linking Pratchett with Douglass adams, though Pratchett is known primarily for fantasy (Discworld) and Adams for Sci-Fi (Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Their styles are so similar, I wouldn't be surprised if Pratchett was influenced by the slightly elder works of Adams. Then again, some of their writing was concurrent, so it might go both ways.

Pratchett did write some Sci-Fi in his early years, but the bulk of his work, the Discworld series, is humorous fantasy. The Discworld itself is just what it sounds like: a flat, circular pun on Pre-Columbian European worldviews, which happens to be spinning on the backs of four huge elephants, which in turn stand on the shell of a vast, spaceborne sea turtle, which is probably a pun on Pre-Columbian Non-European worldviews. It's all so clear now, isn't it?

The basic plot structure of DW novels seems like standard issue fantasy on the surface: Some evil power, or freak of nature, or diabolical villian, or whatever, is threatening a city, or a village, or the entire Disc, and a certain unlikely hero, or heroes, must stop it, with many comical misadventures along the way. Sounds rather common, until you consider the "basic structure" of a few famous artworks. Mona Lisa: a smiling woman with a landscape behind her. David: a big naked man carved in stone. My So-Called Life: a teenage girl goes to school, pines for her crush, snubs her nerdy suitor, interacts with friends and family, and never stops talking to herself. My point being, none of those descriptions lives up to the real thing. It's impossible for me, or anyone else, to sum up those incredibly detailed and multi-layered works in a few sentences.

What the hell, here's the Reader's Digest version of Pratchett's good points:

• Hilarious fantasy
  Believable characters
  Deep philosophical insights
  Ribald, if oblique, social commentary
  The most original and memorable phrases coined in the history of the English language

In the end, the only way you'll really know if you'll enjoy reading Terry Pratchett books is to read Terry Pratchett books. As LeVar Burton used to say at the end of Reading Rainbow, "Don't take my word for it!"

[Nostradamus]

Grrr... the login thingy must be on the fritz again, or I'm just bloody stupid. Either way, that last post was me, Nostradamus. Just so this isn't wasted space, here's the last stanza of my favorite creepy poem, Flannan Isle, by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson.

• We seemed to stand for an endless while,
  Though still no word was said,
  Three men alive on Flannan Isle
  Who thought on three men dead.

[starbug]

Great topic! I don't get too much time to read anymore but recently I've been making an effort, so here are some of my favourites:

Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers; tough at times but worth it...
The Magus - John Fowles. SOOO good. like WOW good.
The Women's Room - Marilyn French - changed my life...
Beloved - Toni Morrison
Lord of The Rings - obviously
most things by Stephen King, especially writing as Richard Bachman...
Gridlock - Ben Elton
Stark - Ben Elton
Inconceivable - Ben Elton
The Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice, Interview with A Vampire being the best of those...

Currently I'm reading 'the Camomile Lawn' by Mary Wesley and so far it's good.

The list is really long and I have a total mindblank really when it comes to remembering the best. Same when I'm asked to list my favourite films; I start listing, and then think of more and more and more...

[fnordboy]

Well I'm bored and should be trying to sleep but goddamnit i love to read. So here we go:

Phillip K. Dick - Dont let anyone tell you he is just a SciFi writer, there is so much more.. I recommend Flow My Tears, the Police Man Said , VALIS , and oh i recommend everything of his..

Charles Bukowski - This man just did not write enough, i can not get enough of his stuff. Gritty, real, alcoholic, womanizing, loving, true...

Robert Anton Wilson - read the Illuminatus! trilogy..it will change your life. FNORD

James Joyce - enough said

Jeff Noon - Vurt was my favorite book for awhile, Nymphomation is jsut as brilliant too. Very contemporary british fiction with a nice touch of cyberpunk.

Mark Danielewski - House of Leaves <drool> amazing...just amazing...

Of course i second Good Omens, such a great book, but will also go the other route and recommend Pratchetts co-author on that book Neil Gaiman and say read Neverwhere and American Gods.. both not as good as Good Omens, but still fantastic.

Marquis de Sade - just for Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man, if your too vanilla skip the 'dirty' stories and just read this short dialogue... amazing.