How many stoners here are active readers?

See, I have sorta the same thing as Meliai going; only I can't get into Tolkien because I dabbled in fantasy when I was younger, especially through RPGs, and it's all sorta the same to me.

Chronicles of Narnia is the only fantasy series I can think of that I really respect; and though I've completed The Hobbit and enjoyed it, I've never been able to pick up LOTR because of my bias against fantasy and the movies sucking.

 

You should never let a movie stop you from reading the book...

Even when it's done well, it just isn't the same thing.

 

lol yeah I wasn't a huge fan of the movies, although I'm guilty of watching them anytime they're on tv. My biggest problem with them is I think they went too much for a straight epic adventure type movie, and left out a lot of the quirky fantastical elements that make LOTR such a great book.

 

I don't think i've ever read a book where the movie/tv show was better.

 

I like to think I'm a reader. Love Tolken - I've read "Lord of the Ring's" three or four times. Like Stephen King a lot. I do find my imagination fading as I watch some of these things on tv. They don't require imagination - only time.

 

I ranted at the tv when watching them... lol

 

for those of you who said they dont like Stephen King: BRAVO!!! King is Mediocre at best, and i find his writing style to be juvenile and formulaic.

As for Tolkien, ill agree that he is a good writer, The Hobbit is still one of my favorite books, and i cant tell you how many times ive read it; But im sorry the LOTR books are overly-wordy and boring, i saw the first and second movie first and wanted to finish the trilogy of books before the third one came out so i sat down and tried to read them... but i couldnt even get through the first one, ill definitely say that his descriptions are VIVID as hell, and and he deserves all the respect he gets, but those books felt like tasks, and i couldnt get into them. ill blame myself because the size of the books are dauntingly huge.

as for some books that changed my life and some decisions i was planning to make when i was a teenager. i was at one time planning to join the Army, and then i was assigned "Born on the Fourth of July" by Ron Korvic, and it shook me, and weakened my resolve to join, but i was still going to until i read the book that Ron mentioned in the book reading in school called "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo and that book shook me even more to my absolute CORE and it was then that i decided that there was no way in hell i was going to risk injuries like that and go to war, because it wasnt fear of death that stopped me, it was the fear of surviving a horrific injury like Ron or especially Joe in "johnny got his gun" lived with. seriously if youve never heard about Johnny Got His Gun, look it up, and if you are considering joining a combat oriented branch of the military read it, and think about it again

 

also i like reading young adult books sometimes too, one of the funniest books ive read and still own from back in 5th grade when i got it is "the Twinkie Squad" by Gordan Korman. its a middle-school oriented book but its pretty funny, especially if you like to relive your childhood occasionally and remember how nice life was before you had real responsibility

 

Fight Club is a better movie, Shawshank Redemption was better than King's short story, the Nightmare Before Christmas was better than Tim Burton's poem; The Age of Innocence is equal in quality to the book..

That's all I've got.

I do see you guys's point, it's just the extremity of boredom that the movies gave me.

That's the only thing I've ever heard that really make me want to check out the books. The Hobbit had that real "story telling" feel to it; and it's warmth was what made it so enjoyable.

 

Agreed!! but ive never read/seen age of innocence

and again agreed, if im watching a movie made from a book and im bored out of my mind, chances are im not gonna think to pick up the book

do it, the hobbit is faster paced and you really can see the progression of the story, and more than any of that, its exciting!! it starts a little slow, but thats just the setup and background, most books start slow, some slower

 

Fine!
You guys've convinced me to give it a chance.After I'm done with Brave New World (amazing) and maybe this other Aldous Huxley book, I'll check it out and at least read a couple chapters =)

 

Read the Fellowship of the Ring! its my favorite of all the LOTR books because it sets up the whole fantasy world. Plus my favorite character from lord of the rings is featured in the fellowship, and they did not include him in the movie, much to my disappointment.

I just started Anthem by Ayn Rand. Its very much like 1984, except instead of a generalized Big Brother government, it focuses on a Socialist government. I don't know how I feel about Ayn Rand, I've never read her other books but I know I don't agree with her politics entirely. Anthem is pretty good so far though.

 

Sometimes i read, sometimes i dont. Its usually a random thing i partake in, depends on the book too.

 

Apparently the SL is better at naming things they read than Sarah Palin is.

 

Atlas Shrugged by rand is good... unfortunately, a lot of people have mistaken a lot of what is said in the book and have warped the messages in it.

 

reading 3 books right now.

Hehe

 

same with Lolita. ppl think if you read it and enjoy it you are a pedo, when if you read it you realize that Vladamir Nabokov created what is possibly the least likable person ever in literature let alone that Humbert Humbert (seriously thats his name) is the "protagonist" and narrator. but you soon feel a bit slimy knowing his inner thoughts, and seeing what a terrible person he is. it also makes you think that his love for Lolita would be beautiful if it wasnt so creepy that it was towards a child, and Lolita (real name Delores) herself isnt exactly a good person either. in fact she is arguably a sociopath. so basically its a story about a bunch of terrible people, and its fascinating. but a little word of advice, if you read it, try to find an annotated version because a good portion is little foreign sayings, and some of the crucial dialog is in other languages, so unless you understand french, russian, italian etc. you will miss a few crucial moments that you will be lost without the knowledge of