April Suggestions for POP! Reads

Alrighty then! April is a traditional novel month, friends and neighbors. Any suggestions about what we should dive into next? So far Neil Gaiman has dominated the competition with two picks in a row!

Just a note, don't be afraid to join the discussion, even if you haven't finished the book!

Read on Popsters!

I'll nominate a fairly new add to the absolute must re-read/recommed to everyone pile:

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.



I'll start this off by saying: You will loose sleep reading this book, there are no if's and's or but's about it, I've read it several times and still find myself up till three in the morning plowing through this book again.

Beautifully crafted story about a man who is literally a living legend who has gone into hiding for some unknown reason only to be found by a scribe who persuedes him to tell him his life story.

The book bounces back and forth between first and third person naratives as you go from the present to the main character relating his story to the scribe.

As the story progresses you see that even though the main character, Kvothe, is a bit on the stereo-typical side, very gifted and excells at everything he tries, he's not a perfect character and makes very human mistakes out of pettiness, jealousy, or just plain stupidity and it makes him incredibly relateable, and even though the tone of the story is quite up beat most of the time, there's an underlying sadness as you know there's a reason that this character went into self imposed exile.

The book is the first of trilogy so you won't get as many answers as you'd probably like in it, but it's so well put together that you'll probably finish it and flip back to page one and reread it immediately to catch all of the things you missed the first time you read through it.

I still have to push to get people to read either

Jennifer Government or the Illuminatus Trilogy

Jennifer Government is a novel written by Max Barry. Published in 2003, it is Barry's second novel, following 1999's Syrup. The novel is set in a dystopian alternate reality in which most nations (now controlled by the United States) are dominated by for-profit corporate entities while the government's political power is extremely limited. Some readers consider it similar in satiric intent to George Orwell's 1984, but of a world with too little political power as opposed to too much. Consequently, some readers see the novel as a criticism of libertarianism. Many readers also see it as a criticism of globalization, although Barry claims he is not an anti-globalizationist.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives and jumps around in time. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology and Discordianism.

Hero - See superdougs description https://panelsonpages2009.forumotion.com/literature-f9/super-reads-from-superdoug-t518.htm

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives and jumps around in time. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology and Discordianism.

I'm still chipping away at this one, it's like reading a hit of LSD, lol, it's very funny and incredibly clever, but it can be disconcerting when you jump from a character in 1973 on a submarine heading to Atlantis to one in 1952 researching a newspaper article in Chicago mid paragraph with the authors trusting you to be able to tell that it's happened.

Isn't it great!

Isn't it great!

Yeah, it is a fantastic read and put together like pretty much no other novel I've come across. Although you may wind up suspecting that your cat is an Illuminati agent by the end of the third trip.

I own this book, but I've never read it:

The Years of Rice and Salt (2002) is an alternate history novel with major Buddhist and Islamic religious elements written by science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, a thought experiment about a world in which neither Christianity nor the European cultures based on it achieve lasting impact on world history. It won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2003.
- wikipedia.org

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

Gah... I can never read Tolkien's stuff. The LotR films are brilliant, but his writing is too damn dry and boring as hell.

I'm going to say Peter and Max by Bill Willingham or On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. Mainly because anything Willingham does is amazing and OST is the basis for the next Pirates movie. Might be worth it to see what Depp is going to get himself into next as Capt Jack.

Suggestions, please.

Feels so early. But the bird and the worm and all that. Umm...trying to avoid Neil Gaiman books, for the sake of the others.

Bad Twin by Gary Troup (Psuedonym)

I'm planning on reading the novel that Sawyer was reading in the show Lost. A stand-alone story that doesn't take place in the Lost-verse yet has very modest references towards the show. With Lost in its final season, I thought this should at least be nominated.

Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Need reason to read it.

^^Same here. I'm trying to avoid Gaiman suggestions for now.

Since I started reading it I'll nominate World War Z.

Silmarillion huh? Haven't read that in years, mainly because if felt like I was reading a text book on Middle Earth rather than an actual novel, lol.

I haven't read World War Z though, guess this would give me an excuse to pick it up.

I made it about one tenth into the Silmarillion before I gave up on it. I love LOTR, but the book just sucked. I was so disapointed by it. If you want to read it, but actually make it interesting read the Middle Earth for Dummies book.

bump

Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates - Tom Robbins

I suggest Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J Anderson. It's my favorite telling of the final days of Krypton, more so then the John's Krypton. There are some nods to the movies and the Brainiac part is pretty cool.

^ I've never heard of this one

really? I think it may be at Cole's or something, that's were I found mine.

Suggestions?

Any final suggestions before the poll goes up?

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