The Energon Pub

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I'll start.

If you want an awesome summer read I would suggest Meg by Steve Alten( the extended version). It's a prehistoric shark novel filled with pure adrenaline action, interesting facts, good humor, enjoyable characters, and some nice drama as well. While it's been a long time since I've read it, I'm still left in awesomeness from it, I must also say that after reading the book I have taken looks at all these shark movies( Jaws included) saying within my brain-Meg owns them entirely. I was, however, dissapointed a little bit with tone and setting of place at the final climax but that's all I will say about it. Still, it's worth the time. It also really feels like a summer action blockbuster from the 1990's.

Verdict-For the extended verison it's a buy, haven't read the original version so I can't really determine if it's a buy as well. It's perfect for a summer time excitement read.

But...If you're not in the action mood in the summer time, then The Beach by 28 Days Later screenwriter and former Halo movie screenwriter Alex Garland. It's simple, long, but all good. Haven't seen the movie which starred Leonardo DiCaprio yet so I cna't say if the book is better than the movie.

I would also recomend The Coma, also by Alex Garland. It's a good short read, and each page does feel quite short as well do the chapters( pretty much each chapter is about 3 to 4 pages long). Little out there but compelling and full of intelligence.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson


I'm not even done with it and already I've recommended it twice.

Survivor and Fight club by Chuck Palahniuk. They're the only books I've ever read and probably ever will.

Meverix wrote:Survivor and Fight club by Chuck Palahniuk. They're the only books I've ever read and probably ever will.

Wait a minute. You've only read two books in your whole life? That can't possibly be right.

"The Bible according to Spike Milligan"

One of the greatest comedic geniuses of all time retells the bible in his own unique way. Very hilarious book.

WaterShip Down By Richard Adams.

its not just a talking rabbit book BTW

Outrider2000 wrote:WaterShip Down By Richard Adams.

its not just a talking rabbit book BTW

QFT! Heaven forbid a parent mistake the movie for a Kiddie Flick about cute little bunnies!

The Book is Excellent! To go along with that, if you can find it, pick up a copy of the "sequel", Tales from Watership Down.

I would recommend We Were Soldiers Once... And Young by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. Galloway. The Movie was outstanding! The Book is better! Of course, there is much, much more in the book. I have a copy of the hardback signed by Joe Galloway and six members of the 1st Battalion / 7th cavalry. It was an incredible honor to meet them and thank them personally. I hope to get General Moore's signature soon.

The Illiad

The Odyssey

The plays by Euripides & Sophokles

Beowolf

Starship Troopers

I Am Legend

The Aliens Vs Predator novels based on the Dark Horse comics

The Halo novels

Anything having to do with Hellboy

The Seafort Saga is probably the best sci-fi series I have ever read. If you think people in Star Wars are hardcore, just see the stuff that poor Nick Seafort has to endure.

Dream Catcher by Stephen King (TOOONNNSSS better than the movie)

I Am Legend

The Zombie Survival Guide

The Taking by Koontz

The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson

New Warriors vol. 1

Dark Zarak wrote:Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson


I'm not even done with it and already I've recommended it twice.

Totally agree here. Language is a virus. Great stuff!

I would also recommend:

Good Omens by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman.
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell (especially recommended for anyone who has ever considered a carrer in filmmaking).
Mind Over Matters by Michael J. Nelson.
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (arguably the best fantasy series ever written but the wait between books can be excrutiatingly long).

Joseph Conrad - "Heart of Darkness"
Kurt Vonnegut - "Slaughterhouse-5"
Philip K. Dick - "A Scanner Darkly"
Primo Levi - "If This Is A Man"
Patrick McCabe - "The Dead School"

Quite possibly the five greatest books ever written.

David Eddings Awesome fantasy author. Start with the Belgariad and keep going to the Malloreon. Those are both a series of books that they have compacted into two books instead of 10. Trust me when I say that by the time you are done you will have a new love of reading. His second series of books are The Elenium and The Tamuli. Those are just as well done buy are more about knights and has way more fighting then the first series.

Tolkien The Hobbit, Pratchet the Color of Magic and Mort, Harry Potter.

Hm, I'll recommend an underground hit...

"The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. I'm an atheist, yet I thought this story was so beautifully written, comforting and inspiring that I find myself hoping that Albon's interpretation of Heaven is true. The premise is based around an imagined idea of Heaven and what happens when we die; that on entering Heaven, we meet five people, in turn, who have helped fundamentally shape our lives for better or for worse, and they explain our lives to us. They could be complete strangers or people we have known and loved intimately... it doesn't matter.

I cannot praise that book enough.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (in addition to Snowcrash, mentioned above).

War of the Flowers by Tad Williams. If you end up liking his style, Otherland is pretty bad-ass, but a bit of a slog (4 books, about 3,400 pages total).

Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick - probably the single best altHistory novel ever.

Damn, I'm seeing a lot of books I've been meaning to read on here.

So I mentioned Snow Crash, and Aurax mentioned Cryptonomicon. Does anyone know about The Diamond Age? Is that good?

All 13 of the series of unfortunant events by Lemony Snicket they're all really good reads.

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Fantastic trilogy in five parts. It's probably the most bizarre thing I ever read that made sense.

Scar Tissue. Anthony Keidis' autobiography. I couldn't put it down. It offers some interesting insight into the life of a chronic drug abuser.

~Windcharger~ wrote:The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Fantastic trilogy in five parts. It's probably the most bizarre thing I ever read that made sense.

Oh ****.... Here it comes....

I'm gonna say it....

I'm gonna say it....


I couldn't stand it.

I got about halfway through before just moving on to something else. It was... well, boring.

The characters were flat, the plots random and not going anywhere....


Okay, maybe I'm not giving it a chance. I'm at the part where Zaphod Beeblebrox has entered the high rise at the resort planet, and it was taken off world and dropped onto a new area. He is in the process of grappling down the slanted slope that was once the building's side.

That's where I am. Does it pick up? Is there really fun stuff yet to come?


I'll admit, I loved the planet factory. And the whole sperm whale and bowl of petunias part was hilarious.

But a lot of it just seemed like "Oh look how delightfully random I can be!" It was kind of dumb. I didn't even know that Arthur Dent was still wearing his bathrobe from morning at the start. It doesn't even go into that.

And who are these characters anyway? They don't have any distinguishing traits besides funny names.


I dunno. It just didn't float my boat at all. The intro says that Douglas Adams didn't even like writing. It shows.

Dark Zarak wrote:

~Windcharger~ wrote:The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Fantastic trilogy in five parts. It's probably the most bizarre thing I ever read that made sense.

Oh ****.... Here it comes....

I'm gonna say it....

I'm gonna say it....


I couldn't stand it.

I got about halfway through before just moving on to something else. It was... well, boring.

The characters were flat, the plots random and not going anywhere....


Okay, maybe I'm not giving it a chance. I'm at the part where Zaphod Beeblebrox has entered the high rise at the resort planet, and it was taken off world and dropped onto a new area. He is in the process of grappling down the slanted slope that was once the building's side.

That's where I am. Does it pick up? Is there really fun stuff yet to come?


I'll admit, I loved the planet factory. And the whole sperm whale and bowl of petunias part was hilarious.

But a lot of it just seemed like "Oh look how delightfully random I can be!" It was kind of dumb. I didn't even know that Arthur Dent was still wearing his bathrobe from morning at the start. It doesn't even go into that.

And who are these characters anyway? They don't have any distinguishing traits besides funny names.


I dunno. It just didn't float my boat at all. The intro says that Douglas Adams didn't even like writing. It shows.

I can understand why you'd say that. It does have random pacing and little to no character development (except for Arthur Dent). The beauty of this book lies in the eccentricity of the situations a normal earthling finds himself in. He, like the reader, is incredulous that it could be real. Douglas manages to come up with ways that it could be plausible. I found this book read like British sketch comedy, very dry with peculiar pacing. It's definitly worth finishing, in my opinion, if only for the Krikket battle.

Try: Stone Cold, by: David Baldacci. Good Book, good action, nice character...

For a kick ass sci-fi trilogy that will keep you going for a long time (each book over 1000 pages) read Peter F Hamilton's Night Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, the Neutronium Alchemist, the Naked God)

Pratchett's one of my favourites but his early books aren't his best IMO - I like Nightwatch

Nuklear Age by Brian Clevinger.

I admit, it's a slow start, and it does seem a little overly random. After about a third of the way in, it really picks up, and things begin smoothing out. the final third of the book, though, is the best. The ending is a little funny, a little sad, with a big ol' cup of closure to go with. Reading it a second time, you'll notice a lot of foreshadowing to the big plot twist at the end.

poe,lovecraft...sallinger..catcher in the rye,if yas can get it...
a few...