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AGBTANFNPMSR?
What??? You don't...
What??? You don't know what that stands for??? *is shocked* No, just joking. Too long to fit on that one line, though, so I abbreviated! LOL, look out! Here comes AGBTANFNPMSR!!!
Seriously, though, Any Good Books That Are Neither Fantasy Nor Pink/Middle School-Related? I feel like there are no good novels that don't have someone serious with a sword or girls' faces on a pink backdrop as their cover. Yes, don't judge a book by its cover, but then what are covers for? You might as well hand in the bare manuscript if that's true. And yes, that's a slight exaggeration, OK, maybe more than slight but... AGBTANFNPCMS???
submitted by Lena
(September 5, 2009 - 5:21 pm)
(September 5, 2009 - 5:21 pm)
Here are some non-fiction-ish novels that I like. I Seriously dislike CGIMSB's (Cute Girl In Middle School Books) There full name is CGIMSHACOCGAILCHTHHLHATKB's (CuteGirl In Middle School Has A Crush On Cute Guy And In Last Chapeter He Tells Her He Loves Her And They Kiss Books)
The Endless Steppe by Esther Rudomin Hautzig
Anne of Green Gables By L.M. Mongomery
More to come. I am sleepy and it's late.
(September 5, 2009 - 10:07 pm)
top...
(September 6, 2009 - 7:05 am)
I saw that and thought it was some warped version of the alphabet. *shrug*
I know what you mean about everything being middle-school related candy *coughAGcough*... I personally have no problem with swords, but... that's just me.
Um... let's see. Most of the books I read are fantasy or sci-fi, so I'm sort of at a loss here... What about Kate DiCamillo? She's pretty good. Unless you've already read her books, of course... And there's always Beverly Cleary, but I'm guessing you read all her books a long time ago. Well, let me think on this one.
P.S. Is it bad that I read "but then what are covers for?" and immediately thought, "but ain't that what power's for"?
(September 6, 2009 - 9:25 am)
Front!
I'd suggest sci-fi titles because they're not technically fantasy and certainly have nothing to do with the AGified idea of cutesy middle school girls*, but you aren't ne for sci-fi, are you?
*I am now in middle school. Or will be in two days, anyhow. Maybe someone should write a candy book about me! They could change my name so it's spelled "Mari" and pierce my ears again to make t more *realistic*, right?
*cringes* Ugh.
(September 6, 2009 - 12:24 pm)
I wanna taste their tears/I wanna hear their screams/I want the special rush/You get from crushing/Hopes and dreams...
Anyway, on topic: Sherlock Holmes is fun. ^_^ And Shakespeare, and Dickens, and Bradbury... Or Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera...
Uuuuummmmm... weeeeellllll.... Right now I'm reading Brave New World, which is science fiction, but extremely interesting (My friend read a few pages over someone's shoulder and rushed off to buy it for himself, then I read the first page of his book and rushed off to buy it for my iPod.)
Hm... There's The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie, which is sort of a parody of James Bond-y stuff, and also brilliant (which should go without saying, it's Hugh Laurie after all).
I read a pretty good trilogy a while ago called Lionboy, written by "Zizou Corder" aka professional writer mom and school-aged daughter. It's really quite good, though it's urban fantasy and Two Minutes Into the Future (and therefore fails your list, sorry). The only fantasy aspect is that the main character speaks Cat, though, and other than that it's our world with the addition of a rather corrupt corporation that essentially rules the world. There aren't any swords, though (so far as I remember, anyway), so I'll include it here.
Of course there's the String of Pearls aka Sweeney Todd, which, obviously, isn't fantasy in the least.
Um. George Orwell wrote good books, most notably 1984 and Animal Farm (which has a creepy ending, if I do say so myself).
Where the Red Fern Grows is an excellent book, though it's very sad...
I'm sorry, this probably wasn't very helpful since 99% of what I read is fantasy or science fiction, and the rest is mainly classic-y stuff.
Question: What is your opinion on urban fantasy (such as the above mentioned Lionboy trilogy) which takes place in a modern world and doesn't have any swords?
(September 6, 2009 - 2:44 pm)
*claps for TNO* You're reading Brave New World! You'll love it! The first bit is the best. Print versions are much easier to understand the beginning, unless they do diffferent voices for the character.
And, I read this as a request for good, non-mind candy books. My definintion of Mund Candy books:
Books that don't make you think, or don't make you take something away from the books. They aren't necessarily bad, but lots are. Books in which the ending can be understood from the start.
Books that now fall under my defininition of Mind Candy, but are worth reading:
Harry Potter. Series Of Unfortunate Events. Pendragon. Warriors (The worth reading is debateable) Percy Jackson. Ect.
(September 7, 2009 - 6:38 am)
It's not an audio, it's a print version on the iPod. I have like 200 books on there, and it was like 10 bucks. ^_^
But yeah, I'd imagine a recording would be difficult to understand.
(September 7, 2009 - 10:54 am)
I love all those books. That really says a lot for me now, doesn't it? Anyway, Lena, err.... *shuffles through mind to try to find good books that aren't fantasy and without swords* Well, you've probabaly already read this, but if not, read Madeleine L'Engle. She's great!
(September 8, 2009 - 4:37 pm)
Let's see... I've read a lot of GBTANFNPMSR, but here are some: Anything by Ann Rinaldi (except for Millicent's Gift, which is fantasy), anything by Marguerite Henry (if you like horses), Weedflower (I can't remember who wrote that, but it's the same person who wrote Kira-kira, which you've read), The Secret Garden and The Little Princess (both by Frances Hodgeson Burnett, and more, which I might post later.
(September 6, 2009 - 1:45 pm)
Just let me get started. There are more good novels that don't have swords or girls' faces, than those who do. You just have to know the right place to look. (In the young adult/Old books section.) .....
The books I'm going to list in this list are better read if you're in seventh or eighth grade. Why? Because if you know, you can read them. If you don't, you'd better wait until you do, and you know you know.
1984: George Orwell. One of the Best Books ever, but read it before...
Brave New World. The Best Book ever, in my experience. Both of these are forcasts about the future. A perfect future. A Utopia. Everyone's happy there. Factory made people. (Literally, in Brve New World) Aldous Huxley.
A Thousand Splendid Suns: A completely different book from anything in this set. Historical Fiction, but modern history. About two completely different girls growing up in Afghanistan, they are both around 16-20 when the Taliban* takes over Afghanistan. They end up both married to the same man, a waste of human skin.
*The insane, ultrareligious group that kills women that disobey their husband
These books are books anyone can read:
Anything by Agatha Christie. She's the most famous mystery writer ever. Usually, they are musrders. She has amazingly complex plots. They are generally non-gruesome murders. No descriptions of blood. Mrs. Marple is amazing, Hecule Poirot is hilarious
DragonHaven. It's not your average fantasy. A zoo, with a large population of dragons. And yes, Washington does know about that. Robin McKinley.
Golden Compass Series: Yes, it's anti-Christian, but if you don't take it seriously, it's very good. As in, "What an amazing fantasy world Philip Pullman has come up with!"
Animal Farm. Creepy story about animals that take over a farm, and starting as a democracy, turning into a totalitarianism. 1984, but less depressing. George Orwell.
I,Robot. Collection of Philosophical Science Fiction Stories, about robots. And the three laws of robotics*, and how they interact. Isaac Asimov
*1: No robot may harm a human, or through inaction, allow a human to come to harm.
2: A robot must follow every order given by a human, except when it conflicts with the first law.
3: A robot must not allow itself to come to harm, except when that comes in conflict when the first or second law.
Cartoon History Of The Universe: It's a comic book, yes, but the best comic book ever. The sequel to the series, (These only go up until 1492) The Cartoon History Of The Modern World, goes to 2008. (Two parts, the second is coming out in October.) Larry Gonick.
Those are the best novels/collections/Comic books I have ever read. I'd make them requried reading where I live. No, extra credit reading. Thle Cartoon History Of The Universe would be required.
(September 7, 2009 - 6:31 am)
@ TNO (umlaut): Best lines of the whole song, very possibly. :)
@ Pirocks: I wouldn't say that HP and SoUS were candy, because with SoUS you didn't know how it would end (or at least *I* didn't), and HP, though you could predict the happy ending ("all was well"), had so many plot twists that it couldn't count as candy.
SoUS, of course, was basically the same thing over and over for thirteen books, though, so I s'pose I see your point there.
(September 7, 2009 - 9:23 am)
Thanks, everyone! :)
(September 7, 2009 - 11:16 am)
Is AG really that bad now? The magazine actually used to be good, but it kept going downhill, so I quit getting it and randomly decided to get Cricket instead (this was the day before I started Chatterbox). I never imagined it would get that horrible...
But yes, I despise PMSR books.
(September 7, 2009 - 11:57 am)
@ Ima: Unfortunately, yes. I used to get the magazine too, but... :P They started this whole string of "self-help" books for girls... *shudder* Suffice to say they're not... um... not... suffice to say they're mind candy at its worst.
Should've stuck with dolls IMHO, they were good at that at least. *shrug*
(September 7, 2009 - 1:47 pm)
Hmm... well, somebody said Anne of Green Gables, that one's always good. Somebody else said the Little Princess and Secret Garden, those are good too. Torn Thread is good. Hmm, let me go look at my bookshelf *runs to bedroom* A Mango Shaped Space is good, but you've read that I think. Oh, if you read Anne of Green Gables, only the first couple are good. The others ones stink. :S
(September 9, 2009 - 11:09 am)