I'm going to try this...I hope there's enough cultured people out there . How to join: if you like to read, post your favorite books' reviews here. Convince us to read it. All genres and authors apply. As simple as that.

I'll start:

1st book: Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa

This is a war epic set in the Era of Warring States - the Sengoku Jidai. It's one part war chronicle, one part biography of Toyotomi Hideyoshi - the Taiko. He started as the sandal bearer of Oda Nobunaga, and ended up as his most successful general and successor. The book also tells the competition and relation between the House Lords - the brutal House Oda, his steadfast ally House Tokugawa and House Mori.

It is one of the best literary works ever written, and I strongly urge you to buy/borrow/steal it. The English version, unfortunately, is the abriged version. That means you're missing 500 pages. Still worth the read, though. Compared with The Romance of The Three Kingdoms, for example, this book is a winner. It has more character development, more believability, and more energy in storytelling. Plenty of battles for the boys, enough romance for the girls, and while both elements tend to contradict, that is not the case here. Few other books can rise to match it, save perhaps Lord of The Rings. Eiji Yoshikawa also wrote Musashi!, another great read (which I have not yet completed).

2nd Book: Vertical Run by Joseph Garber

Dave Elliot: successful corporate executive, a hardened Vietnam War veteran, divorced and re-married with one son. Does not smoke, drinks moderately, and physically very fit for his age. Oh, and he carries a deadly virus in him as the result of a freak lab accident. He just doesn't know it yet. That's why, when Dave comes to work one day, he discovers that his boss wants him dead. When he survives, a group of ruthless mercenaries come to finish the job of containing a full-scale bio-outbreak. The job however, must be done quietly, and Dave's skyscraper office tower infested with office drones is not a favorable location. That, and Dave's instinct to survive.

This book packs the best action ever written, it touches the subjects of conspiracy theories, biological weapons, Vietnam War atrocities, and very, very funny (there was one scene where Dave adds another enemy: a pack of angry prostitutes, or getting past the security by posing as a gay man and seducing the guard). To summarize, this book is...Die Hard on paper. With an even deeper plot.









Edited by - Fear Factor on 18-01-2003 20:01:38