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Rank: Student Body President
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/24/2008
Posts: 1,254
Location: kingston
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Life of pi! white teeth! I love these books! they're just lovely  I know they're kids books but I also love Madeleine L'engle's schtuff.... Lol electric pearls, you named like half my high school english curriculum right there.... and I've gotta say 1984 was not good... It was so in your face, "this world is so oppressive" and "In case you haven't noticed, I've included some clever thoughts to reinforce the idea that this world is very oppressive" and "Oh, ok well just in case you really don't understand how oppressive it is, I'm going to make sure you get it by demonstrating the oppression in this world" and ionno... it was so blatantly unsubtle and dumb and just... unpleasant? I liked animal farm though, and I really really liked Brave New World, just not this one.... Oh and agreed! ender's game is awesome!
Queen's Engineering 2012 _______________________________________ "....Did you get that's King Lear?"
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/7/2008
Posts: 64
Location: Mississauga
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arranged alphabetically by title:
Bloodletting & Other Miraculous Cures - Dr. Vincent Lam
Eleanor Rigby - Douglas Coupland
Fall On Your Knees - Ann Marie MacDonald
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
I Know This Much Is True - Wally Lamb
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
Tales of the Vinyl Cafe - Stuart Maclean
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Way the Crow Flies - Ann Marie MacDonald
canadian authors to check out: ann marie macdonald, stuart maclean, margaret atwood, mordecai richler, douglas coupland, alistair macleod
alice munro is very overrated, as is atwood at times. richler wrote jacob two-two also. pretty neat.
mac hthsci '11
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/18/2008
Posts: 5
Location: Wembley
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My favorite book ever is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, but I am a sucker for those Harry Potters! lol
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Rank: Student Council
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 344
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school novels have generally been good, 1984, Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird (the over analysing sorta killed it though), Mercy Among the Children (the saddest book you will ever read) and a few others.
Enders game is my favourite book. Ender's Shadow isnt too bad either (same story from Bean's perspective)
has anyone read Tigana??? (a great fantasy book)
Robert J. Sawyer (canadian guy) is pretty good 2
I can't wait for the next eragon book!
UWO Biomed/Ivey '12
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/13/2008
Posts: 80
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Josh wrote:school novels have generally been good, 1984, Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird (the over analysing sorta killed it though), Mercy Among the Children (the saddest book you will ever read) and a few others.
Enders game is my favourite book. Ender's Shadow isnt too bad either (same story from Bean's perspective)
has anyone read Tigana??? (a great fantasy book)
Robert J. Sawyer (canadian guy) is pretty good 2
I can't wait for the next eragon book! I heart Robert J Sawyer!!! And actually all the books you mentioned. As for Ender's Game, I've not usually one for giant science fiction series but I read all 8 of Card's Ender books and have one of the short story collections. Eragon is kind of a guilty pleasure. I know the author choose to smush all the cliches of high fantasy together and it's not "good literature" but I still love it. Trusting your good taste, I'm going to go out and get Tigana and Mercy Among the Children now. It's been ages since I've been able to find a good book. Thanks in advance.
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/5/2008
Posts: 73
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Margaret Atwood basically owns my soul. I find myself unable to go back to lesser quality books (ie. Harry Potter, Twilight...) after it. Although, HP and the Order of the Phoenix will always remain my favourite, I'm simply too attached to the memories.
Though, I'm not sure if this occured to you guys as well, but the over-analyzation and tree-murdering book notes we had to pull weekly one nighters for completely killed my ability to be empathetic. I read The Memory-Keeper's Daughter, and while everyone I know was sobbing over the tragedy of their deception and lack of communication, I yearned to get into the novel so I can slap every single character and tell them that they are complete idiots. I have a feeling that my friends will flip on me any second now as I cannot stant to listen to any type of melodramatic rant anymore. Oh English class, you've ruined me.
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/26/2008
Posts: 21
Location: Canada
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I love Dostoevsky, especially his Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and Brothers Karamazov. They are so dense, but I find them intellectually enriching.
I'm an English and Comparative Literature major, so I read quite a bit! I rarely have time to read my own novels due to all the novels I have to read for my classes, but I'm hoping that in the summer I will get that chance.
Sometimes it is nice to have a light, fun read so I also enjoy chick-lit novels just to relax my brain. I have read the Twilight series (for fun), and I must agree that although it isn't the best writing, it is very marketable to teens and contains an interesting, suspenseful plot line that keeps readers hooked. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.
Happy reading, everyone!
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/5/2008
Posts: 80
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Amelie2 wrote:I litterally just finished reading The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Let me tell you, the man can really create a character! I had not planned it at the time, but the themes of this book tied into subjects I was covering in Psychology and Social Studies. It takes place during the Industrial revolution in Great Britain. Of course psychology ties into all books, but this particular book was a real in depth study of one man psyche. I would recommend this book to anyone, it was a real vocabulary enricher, if you like that sort of thing. Oh ya, my mom said that you usually have to read a Hardy novel when you take an English Lit. degree (she has one). I love Thomas Hardy!!! Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure have to be my favourites though. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a close third. You should also check out some George Eliot (Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch)
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/26/2008
Posts: 21
Location: Canada
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banana wrote:Amelie2 wrote:I litterally just finished reading The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Let me tell you, the man can really create a character! I had not planned it at the time, but the themes of this book tied into subjects I was covering in Psychology and Social Studies. It takes place during the Industrial revolution in Great Britain. Of course psychology ties into all books, but this particular book was a real in depth study of one man psyche. I would recommend this book to anyone, it was a real vocabulary enricher, if you like that sort of thing. Oh ya, my mom said that you usually have to read a Hardy novel when you take an English Lit. degree (she has one). I love Thomas Hardy!!! Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure have to be my favourites though. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a close third. You should also check out some George Eliot (Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch) I absolutely loved The Mill on the Floss! It was so engaging and poignant. I have Middlemarch but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Does anyone like the works of Amy Tan? I've read The Joy Luck Club and really enjoyed that. I also bought The Kitchen God's Wife and The Hundred Secret Senses and plan to read them over the summer.
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Rank: Student Council
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/4/2008
Posts: 353
Location: COWTOWN
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the god delusion
Math/CA Waterloo '13
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/22/2008
Posts: 8
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mine are mostly series...i really don't like to read books twice soo i prefer series
-tamora pierce books - alll really good
-eragon series
-harry potter series
- an earthly knight isn't a series but really good
- all american girl isn't a series but its hilrious
-pendragon series
-droughtlander series
-intelligencier it's not a series but still really good
- the hidden world was good too
these are the only ones coming to mind at the moment
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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/1/2008
Posts: 14
Location: Vancouver
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Harry Potter series
Twilight series
Anything by Philippa Gregory (writes amazing historical fictions)
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (non-fiction about the unconcious human mind)
The Tipping Point also by Malcolm Gladwell
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
They are all fantastic in different ways.
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/25/2008
Posts: 927
Location: waterloo, ontario
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I’m a huge fan of Banana Yoshimoto =) She explores pathos, nostalgia and character struggle in a far more invoking way than I have ever read. Try reading her book “Kitchen” if you can: http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/1798When growing up, I also adored Judy Blume books - again, one of the best adolescent writers I've ever read. It's hard to believe how a book like "Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret" can't evolve into a 12 year old's Bible. She's very spot on when it comes to the kind of confusion and resentment you can get involved in when growing up. Is anyone else into the Horrible History books? I cherish those with my very soul! Haha, I recently unearthed a "Groovy Greeks" from the series - it's a very fun and educated way of reading up on one of history's most famous people, events etc. with a bit of sprinkled, light-hearted humour (with doodles, Yay!). It's sort of a more cutesy version of the "A Dummies Guide to:" series. My guilty pleasures also include the Chicken Soup series, as well as Goosebumps. I also recommend "Catfish & Mandala" by Andrew Pham, anything you can get your hands on by Haruki Murakami, and same goes for Roald Dahl (children's writer, but his books still manage to appeal years later)
Environmental Studies & Resource Management, Earth Science
University of Waterloo '11
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/27/2008
Posts: 80
Location: Ontario
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Ugh... the Twilight series is not worth the hype it has accumulated.
Granted, I've only read the first book, but trust me, it was not worth the eight hours of my time.
It's not absolutely awful, but still.
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Rank: Student Body President
Groups: Member
Joined: 5/22/2008
Posts: 2,467
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How did I miss this topic?
Orientalism- Edward Said
and
The Hero with a Thousand Faces- Joseph campbell are my faves
hon mentions:
Sacred and profane- mircea eliade
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.- Carl Jung
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/9/2008
Posts: 139
Location: Ontario, Canada
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Jee wrote:Ugh... the Twilight series is not worth the hype it has accumulated.
Granted, I've only read the first book, but trust me, it was not worth the eight hours of my time.
It's not absolutely awful, but still. What are you talking about?! It is totally worth your time! It is totally amazing. No one listen to this person.  Well, I've only read the books like 4 times each, so maybe I'm missing something... Anyway, the 4th one is coming out on August 2nd! Anyone else as excited as I am? And the movie is coming out in December! So, definately read this series. Oh, and another of my all time favourite series is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Definately worth your while. I even have a crush on James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser! I can't wait until I get my next scottish hunk fix. 
Honours English Major/History Minor, York '12Stong Rez
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/8/2008
Posts: 77
Location: Ontario
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the brothers karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Rank: Student Council
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/4/2008
Posts: 478
Location: Whitby
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teapartiesarefun wrote:the god delusion Decent book, but there are a lot of flaws in his logic, and he often dismisses the ideas of others with no proof except his incessant name-calling.
UWO 2012 - Biological & Medical Science  UWO > Every other school
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Rank: Vice-président du conseil étudiant
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Joined: 6/11/2008
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^ I really disliked that novel for some reason however I cant deny it is a good read.
WLU Honours Business Administration 2013
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Rank: Senior Student
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Joined: 3/25/2008
Posts: 135
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All I can say is The Fountainhead changed my entire perspective of life.
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