CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I thought I'll make a thread about recommended books (if that's o.k. Post a recommended book or ask about a book.


Here are some books I recommend buying/pre-ordering:


Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, and Political Attacks by Carrie Prejean

Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin 11/17/09


Sorry, these are the only books I can think of right now.

I recommend the Percy Jackson series and the Pendragon Adventure series.

I strongly recommend the book UnChristian. Great read by the Barna group.

I've been pushing myself to read books outside what I'm assigned in my classes so I've been purchasing books that run in certain themes to read each semester. This time I've picked Africa and the Middle East. So far I've read What is the What by Dave Eggers and started on Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

What is the What is an amazing, mostly true novel about a refugee from Sudan and his experiences in becoming an American. What makes it unique from all the stories you read in the news is that it's told from the POV of a Dinka and not a Darfurian. You learn so much about Sudanese culture and the nature of the conflict over there but the arc of the story has a beautiful focus on the universal nature of cruelty and injustice. Dave Eggers is a really important contemporary author to know too and I just never get tired of him. If you're interested in good books, Dave founded McSweeney's, which is an indie publishing house and prints uniformly magnificent and quirky books.

Reading Lolita in Tehran has been an incredible read. I picked it up after getting interested in Iranian film and it's just so heartwarming. It takes place in revolutionary Tehran (around the 70's and 80's) and focuses on the author's attempts to school seven women in off-limits literature, mainly books that spoke on the free will of women. The girls slowly learn to express themselves and find pride in their gender. It's a very rewarding memoir so far.

mechana2015 (post: 1355321) wrote:I strongly recommend the book UnChristian. Great read by the Barna group.

I will second this recommendation. A very interesting read and it can be a real eye-opener.

Once again I must pimp out House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's quite a commitment, and at times will even bore the reader. But in the end, it's immensely satisfying.

How not to Write a Novel - A well presented book on the fiction writing process.
http://www.amazon.com/Write-Novel-Them-Misstep-Misstep/dp/0061357952/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258323162&sr=8-1

The Mortal Engines series, by Philip Reeve. In the far future, cities on wheels, called Traction Cities, hunt each other on the remains of Europe, eating each other in a system called Muncipal Darwinism. With a concept like that, it has to be good, right? Well, it is.

There's four books in the series, with a prequel, Fever Crumb, available in Europe (US release is in March/April). The first, Mortal Engines, is an introduction to the concept and world. A young historian from London finds himself chucked out of the city with a girl who tried to assassinate his idol, meets up with an Asian airship pilot, and finds an undead cyborg, who gives chase.

The next two, Predator's Gold and Infernal Devices, are slower and not as good, but are necessary reading to understand the final book, A Darkling Plain. The characters grow older and develop in the middle two, and the third sets up the main plot for the fourth. The threat of war between the Traction Cities and a radical anti-Traction faction, which had been simmering near the surface through the series, becomes reality, and things get considerably more complicated.

Anyway, a very fun read, if you can find it.

Also, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. It's a memoir of a woman growing up in post-Revolutionary Iran, told in graphic novel form. It deals with some very heavy themes, and, as you probably know, just because it's in comic book form, doesn't mean it's kid-friendly. That is in full effect here. It is one of the most emotionally wrenching books I've read, and yet, it's not without moments of great levity. It's very challenging slice-of-life, really. There's a movie based on it, which I'll see...eventually. Look it up if you can handle it, and if you need a good Western graphic novel.

If you want a good laugh, the Hitchhiker's Guide books are always good. There are five books in the series, but I would suggest you skip out on the final book. It's just not as good as the others, which are:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Restuarant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe, and Everything
So Long and Thanks For All the Fish