modDB Book Club group

I recently received Luigi Serafini's Codex Seraphinianus as a gift, and must say that I have never been as intrigued by a single book as I am by this one. It's simply put the work of immeasurably mad genius, both in madness and in genius.

Three words: buy. this. book.

oo i love reading, mainly war related, like the eagle has landed about hitlers plan to kidnap the british prime minister. its a fantastic read i reccomend it to everyone.

Das Boot
Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Novel

German lieutnant Werner loses his boot during the intense fighting and through the whole book he tries to find it, because his foot is cold.

Not really, I'm just kidding. Actually Das Boot is a fictionalised autobiographical account, narrated by a Lt. Werner, who has been assigned as a war correspondent on the German Submarine U-96. The story IS very intense, as it's full of long journeys through the calm and still mostly stormy seas. The story takes place on Atlantic ocean and tells the story how submarine sailors live during the trips and during the attaks. All these pursuits after convoys and hiding from destroyers are very well written as the autohr of the book actually was a lieutnant in the 1941.

Author himself joined Lieutenant-Commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock and the crew of U-96 for a single patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. His orders were to photograph and describe the U-boat in action.

This book has many high points until the end, when it ends with one. I really loved it, and it left me wishing that there was more. And there is, but unfortunately none of them are translated into my own language yet.

After this book Wolfgang Petersen made an movie. And the movie follows the book very well, with some differences. Actually this may be the best movie made after an book. The movie wears the same name as book, and was made in 1981. The movie is fully in german for realism.

Kind of an attach-on Whizzard's post, I'd recommend the entire Discworld series by Prachett, for it's hilarious offbeat British "humour" and it's very nice fantasy elements.

If you're more science-fictiony or action-oriented, any novel by Harry Turtledove, especially the Worldwar quadrilogy, the Colonization trilogy (20 years after Worldwar), and the follow-up novel Homeward Bound.

Quite a lot members. It's quite positive, that "so many" people read books.

The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch
Fantasy / Crime

Billed as a cross between Danny Ocean and Robin Hood, Locke Lamora is the leader of the Gentleman Bastards, a group of high-stakes thieves that are constantly stealing from the rich nobles of Camorr. However, these con jobs are a violation of the ancient truce between the Duke and the Capa Barsavi, the leader of all organized crime in the region. As Lamora begins the biggest heist of his career, his crew of criminals find themselves under increasing scrutiny as the criminal underworld comes under siege from a mysterious upstart looking to kill all of the competition--including the best thief in the city.

Though I'm only half-way through the novel, this is seriously some well written fantasy. The world is less "Lord of the Rings" and more Renaissance era with fantasy elements, focusing instead on human characters and how they interact in this alien but familiar society. The narrative switches between Lamora's upbringing--and the numerous times he caused anarchy as a mere child--and the Gentlemen Bastard's latest scam, which grows increasingly complicated by outside events as the novel goes on. Though the prose could definitely be livened up a bit more than it is, it reads a lot better than any of those thick, Robert Jordan bricks that line book store shelves.

If you are looking for something that bends the genres a bit, I highly recommend this, especially as a series of novels featuring the characters introduced here looks to be on the horizon.

Thief of Time
Terry Pratchett
Fantasy

Auditors of Reality are unhappy with life as it makes their work much harder. They make an order to Jeremy Clockson to make an perfect glass clock, but they do not reveal that the glass clock will trap Time within in it and thereby freeze the time forever, so the life wouldn't bother them ever again. But Death finds out their plans but unable to do something to stop them by himself, he asks his grand-daughter to do this instead.

This was an quite interesting book. I really enjoyed it, because...well...Terry Pratchett is an damn good writer. The book doesn't require much reading "skills" and it is good for your fantasy. Like every Terry's book.