Books or Authors you like

[Moribundus]

This is in response to the 'Books or authors you dislike' thread. I for one am a book lover and do not wish to see my loves disparaged. So without further ado here is a list of books/authors that I happen to enjoy.

Garth Nix. with the exception of Ragwitch and Drowned Wednesday (both of which I liked) I have loved all of his books (Abbhorsen Trilogy, Shades Children, Seventh Tower series (6 books, but more like 2 good sized ones) and his short stories even (across the wall ect.)

Terry.... Pratchett (got ya ey?) I like *most* of his books (too many to list) but I think that his colaboration (good Omens) with Niel Gaiman was a disaster.

David Brinn, author of Startide Rising and The Uplift War Sundiver (only read those ones so far)

*Some* Mercedies Lackey (only some) I really liked Joust (but the other 2 in that series were fu***ng sh**ty) Elvenbane and a few of the valdemar ones

Stephen Gould, he wrote Jumper and some others. another authot that I really like Jumper is probably one of my favorite books of all times

Robin Hobb Assassins Trilogy, Liveship Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy
I liked them all for the most part (the middle assassins book was annoying)

Emma Bull, I only really liked one of her books.
The War for the Oaks freaking awesome book anohter one of my favorites

Diana Wynne Jones. I like her books a lot for the most part... but I did not like the Chrestomanci Series

Diane Duane. Wrote the Wizard books (So you want to be a Wizard ect.) loved them)

ok, that is enough listing books and authors. those are what I happen to like... disagree if you must but don't hold it against me too much (well the Mercedies lackey you can... cause most of her stuff is not creative)
anyways post what you like and thanks for actually reading this...

[BelkarsDagger]

Chrisopher Paolini - The Eragon series. He does take alot from other writings, but he was 15 when he wrote Eragon, so it's kinda expected. Still, I love his writing.

JKRowling - Harry Potter.

[Moribundus]

Hmm, both sets of books were ok. ;D

I almost forgot (oops, I did)
Naomi Novik. amazing author she only has 3 books out that I know of
His Majestys Dragon, Throne of Jade and The Black Powder War
go read them NOW!! they will knock you freaking socks off. IMO a truly original take on dragons (and that era of history)

[Mr._Blinky]

Chrisopher Paolini - The Eragon series. He does take alot from other writings, but he was 15 when he wrote Eragon, so it's kinda expected. Still, I love his writing.

JKRowling - Harry Potter.



Seconded, especially if you've seen my post on the other thread (books you're reading right now).

[alec]

Anything by H.P.Lovecraft, or another author using the Cthulhu mythos. Takes me a while to read through the books though.

[Umbilical_Lotus]

I often mention my favorite author to people, and they stare at me blankly, because no one ever knows him, but oh well. He's Sean Stewart. His books just keep appreciating in quality, and his latest one, Firecracker, keeps that up by being sparklingly awesome.

[Shaidar_Haran]

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The definitive modern fantasy, everything else really pales in comparison.

J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. However popular it currently is to dislike him, he is an amazing author. I don't think much more can be said here.

Sharon Kay Penman's historical fiction set in Medieval England. A lot of it is really enjoyable, expecially Here Be Dragons and The Sunne in Splendour. I'm normally not a big fan of Historical Fiction, but she's great.

I have to say, I am astonished that anyone would put Paolini on this list, but everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. I believe I launched into a rant about him in some other "Favorite/Least Favorite Book Thread".

I'll probably think of some others some other time, as it is 1:30 AM. I'm also asuming that this is predominantly for Fantasy/Sci Fi/Historical Fiction/Realistic Fiction, so I didn't put on some of the other stuff I really enjoy.

[Moribundus]

I have to say, I am astonished that anyone would put Paolini on this list, but everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. I believe I launched into a rant about him in some other "Favorite/Least Favorite Book Thread".


I agree with this, however uncreative the story the first time I read it it was slightly charming.

[Kineon_War]

I like this thread more than the other one because i'd rather here about good books so I can look out for them.

Anything by Terry Pratchett is good. I always get one or two out-loud laughs per book and that to me is worth more than gold. (Well maybe not gold, how about silver?)

Douglas Adams is a funny man too. The Hitchhiker's Guide was his best work. The Dirk Gently books had some good stuff (Thor being followed by a Coke machine was interesting) but not as good as his Hitchhikers stuff. It is such a pity that man died so young, he had a life-time of writing books for me to read ahead of him.

Say what you like about Tolkein but he practically invented the genre that we all love. He is long-winded and the plot lines were complex but I can handle more than one hero in a book and a complex story is good. Tolkein's books verge on mythology rather than fantasy.

I don't read a lot of modern fantasy because it is all the same. Ho-hum another elf etc. I prefer to read mythology especially Norse or Celtic. The Poetic Edda rocks.

I also like reading about Real Estate investing and wealth creation by such authors as Steve McKnight, Dolf de Roos and Robert Kiyosaki. I'm not a capitalist pig, I just hit 30 and decided I didn't want to be 50 and poor. So I started reading books like this to educate myself.

Cheers,
Joel

[Ubergeek87]

R.A. Salvatore of course.
Dave Duncans "King's Blades" series is really good too
and finally all of the Dune books.

[Zaggab]

All the Robin Hobb books. They rock.
The Deverry books by Katherine Kerr. Though it was 5 years since I read them, and I have forgotten almost everything, I remember thinking they were good books when I read them.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are good books, if a little unusual compared to other things.
The Name of the Rose by... hmm... Some Guy was good.
The first Wheel of Time books were good, then they devolved into something were 1000 different characters are doing 100 different things, with a lot of Aes Sedais that just lives in palaces and does Aes Sedai stuff. Would have been better as a soap opera.
En krigares hjärta (a warriors heart) by Niklas Krog is good. His other books suck.
The narnia books. At least I thohught so when I was younger. When I was younger I read books ALL the time. When I didn't have anything new to read, I read the Narnia books. I must have read them all about 20 times. But of course I don't remember anything from them now. My memory lasts as long as dead oysters in Sahara.

[NeonBlack]

That "Some Guy" would be Umberto Eco ;). And yes, The Name of the Rose rocks.

I may get a few WTFs from this, but whatever: Tad Williams. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is one of the best fantasy I've ever read, period. Even though the "surprise" ending was anything but that, thanks to, oh, five hundred millions of clues thrown across the whole story, the rest of the books more than compensate for this. Tailchaser's Song is the best book about cats ever written (epic heroic kittens = awesomeness). And Otherland ain't shabby either, although it lagged a bit in the final book. The day this guy learns how to cut stories a bit shorter and stop his verbal leakage before he drowns himself in it, he's gonna be a master.

And yeah, Pratchett is god. But we all know that. Right?.

[Alarra]

George RR Martin, naturally
Jaqueline Carey - her Kushiel's Legacy trilogy is probably my favorite series ever.
Robin Hobb
Jodi Piccoult
Augusten Burroughs

just to name a few

[Vaynor]

Diana Wynne Jones. I like her books a lot for the most part... but I did not like the Chrestomanci Series

Diane Duane. Wrote the Wizard books (So you want to be a Wizard ect.) loved them)
I have to agree with you on Dianna Wynne Jones, though the Chrestomanci series wasn't that bad. they just couldn't compare to the rest of her books.

Also, Diane Duane's Wizard's series is extremely good, and anyone who has not read them should.

Hmm, well, I just finished reading Homeland, and am now reading Exile (by R.A. Salvatore, the first two books in the Legend of Drizzt series for those who don't know), and they're fairly good, though he does draw combat out a little bit. ;)

I like Terry Jones wrote some good books, mostly The Knight and the Squire, and The Lady and the Squire.

I also enjoy most of Jules Vernes classics, but especially liked 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

That's about all I can think of at the moment...

EDIT: Douglas Adams!!! How could I forget? :D I liked his entire Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series...

[Don Beegles]

I may get a few WTFs from this, but whatever: Tad Williams. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is one of the best fantasy I've ever read, period. Even though the "surprise" ending was anything but that, thanks to, oh, five hundred millions of clues thrown across the whole story, the rest of the books more than compensate for this. Tailchaser's Song is the best book about cats ever written (epic heroic kittens = awesomeness). And Otherland ain't shabby either, although it lagged a bit in the final book. The day this guy learns how to cut stories a bit shorter and stop his verbal leakage before he drowns himself in it, he's gonna be a master.

And yeah, Pratchett is god. But we all know that. Right?.

QFT ya'll. Williams is one of my favorite fantasy authors because of Memory, SOrrow, and Thorn, which probably qualifies as my favorite book trilogy ever, and Otherland[i] which is also very good.

Pratchett is, like everyone else here, one of my favorties. I think I prefer him to Adams because his plots and cahracters are better.

T.H. White's [i]The Once and Future King

Just about anything by Dickens, especially, The Tale of Two Cities. Many of his stories may be rather similar, but he is definetly the master of the sudden revelation.

Nancy Farmer. She may be technically a children's author, but The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm & The House of teh Scorpion are just amazing, so I have to include her.

Cyrano de Bergerac For those of you who haven't read it, do so. It's short, should take you like an hour and a half, and it's got everything, from laugh-out loud humor, to action, to romance and tragedy It's the best.

That's probably like 1% opf my list. If anything else strikes me, I'll let you know.

[Kashinn]

Robert Jordan - Wheel of time. Even though the later books are stagnating its a pretty intense world and storyline. Hope Jordan'll be alright and doesn't succumb to his illness.

Tad Williams - War of the Flowers (and others, but that one is my favourite book by him).

Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere, Smoke and Mirrors, American Gods

William Gibson - Pattern Recognition (really really great book!), Neuromancer Trilogy

Christopher Moore - The gospel according to Biff, christs childhood pal (terribly funny book about the young years of christ), Practical Demonkeeping, Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

[Dudukain]

I read alot of Dave Barry, and at the moment I'm reading Robert Jordan.


Garth Nix is great.


I read some Terry Pratchett, and I LOVED Good Omens.

[Shadow_of_Light]

Lloyd Alexander's Chrionicles of Prydain (eg. 'The Black Cauldron'). One of my most cherished fantasy series of all time. Even though they're more for children than adults, I still love them to pieces. :)

Hm, what else. Most have already been mentioned. I have read 'The Power of One' by Bryce Courtney only once, but remember being hardly able to put the book down most of the time.

[Zaggab]

That "Some Guy" would be Umberto Eco ;). And yes, The Name of the Rose rocks.

I may get a few WTFs from this, but whatever: Tad Williams. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is one of the best fantasy I've ever read, period. Even though the "surprise" ending was anything but that, thanks to, oh, five hundred millions of clues thrown across the whole story, the rest of the books more than compensate for this. Tailchaser's Song is the best book about cats ever written (epic heroic kittens = awesomeness). And Otherland ain't shabby either, although it lagged a bit in the final book. The day this guy learns how to cut stories a bit shorter and stop his verbal leakage before he drowns himself in it, he's gonna be a master.

And yeah, Pratchett is god. But we all know that. Right?.

Thanks for reminding me of Some Guy's real name. It was a bit embarrasing to not remember the author of a great book I read just a month ago.

And I must agree with you on Tad Williams. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn must be one of the best fantasy series ou there. Otherland was also good. I can't say anything about Tailchaser's Song, since those two series are the only books by him that I have read.


And to add some new books/authors, Dan Brown's books are good, at least I think so.

Raymond E. Feist is also good, but I have only read his first books. Of the ones that I have read, Fairy Tale is the best. It is also the only one of his books that doesn't take place in his kliché fantasy world Midkemia, or the not-so-kliché Empire (I have forgotten the world's name, sadly. My memory lasts as long as dead oysters remain fresh i a bacteria bath in Sahara)

[DarkCorax]

All the Robin Hobb books. They rock.


Yeah.... although I didn't like Soldiers Son as much as I liked the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man Trillogys (a Trillogy of Trillogys :P)

Terry Prattchet's Discworld books

Garth Nix's Old Kingdom books, I can't find any of his other books exept for the Keys books and I don't like them very much....

Tolkien... not much needs to be said....

and many others.... :)

[Moribundus]

Yeah.... although I didn't like Soldiers Son as much as I liked the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man Trillogys (a Trillogy of Trillogys :P)


Soldiers Son, ey? I only knew of the Farseer/Trader/Tawny Man books...
i'll have to look into that other one..
oh, and corax, are you also a member of a Diablo II board? becuase a board that I used to frequent had a corax...

[Argent]

Where to start?

George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series. The last book was pretty draggy, but overall his writing's some of the best I've seen in fantasy.

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series. Again, some books are better than others, but his comic tone and pacing is fantastic, and he's such a wiseacre.

Steve Perry's Matador series. Easy, fast reads, good characterization. Great popcorn for the mind.

Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series. Gritty and fun.

Neal Stephenson, especially "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon". PHENOMENAL. "Zodiac" isn't half bad, either.

The obligatory Pratchett and Gaiman.

And stone me for it if you must, but I loved Eddings' "Belgariad". His other series were second verse, same as the first, but the Belgariad was a lot of fun.

Esther Friesner's early work, especially "Elf Defense". One of the few truly good comic-fantasy authors out there.

I'll stop, otherwise I'll be typing here for an hour.

[Shaidar_Haran]

Yes, Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Trilogy (although it is not really a trilogy) is great. I didn't like his other books, but I only read Dirk Gently's Detective Agency (I think that was its name).

Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, except for books Nine and Ten is very enjoyable. Long, but definitely worth the read. I might be the only person who enjoyed his later books, but everyone still seems to buy them.

[Orion_Winterheart]

i like read books in a series and then all the other other ones set in that world/place
My favorite settings:
Known Space (Larry Niven)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
Pern (Anna McCaffery)
Forgotten Realms (R.A. Salvatore othe rmany others)

[LooseCannon]

Hmm. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarilion, and The Hobbit, from least favourite to most favourite.

Rowling.

Jack Whyte's Dream of Eagles series. The best modern books I've read.

Anything by Harry Turtledove. Sometime his writing is boring, but his ideas are fantabulous. I've read the World War series, the "Timeline 191" series, and the "Darkness" series.

[Tiberian]

Orson Scott Card and the Ender and Bean series. The only one I haven't read yet is Shadow of the Gi

1984, Brave New World, and Inferno (Orwell, Huxley, Dante)

[Don Beegles]

When I read all of the good things being said about A Sont of Fire and Ice, I hopped on my bike, went to teh library, and got A Game of Thrones. So far I'm only twenty pages into it, but I thought I'd post to say that it's very addictive so far and if it keeps up I'll have to thank this thread for the good recommendation.

[Shaidar_Haran]

It only gets better, my friend, it only gets better.

[Shinfai]

the tales of the otori trilogy by lean hearn

[Monkeypaws]

George R.R. Martin is one of my favorites. I enjoyed the Wild Card series he put together with a bunch of other authors. Haven't read them all but they got better as the writers got more familiar with each other's characters.

When I'm having a bad day I like to pull out one of my many Calvin & Hobbes books. May not technically be right for this thread but it is a book and I like it :)

[CannibalGnome]

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The definitive modern fantasy, everything else really pales in comparison.


I would agree with the above.

[Flabbicus]

Thirded. Oops thats not a word. All the Dune books before the God emperor of Dune then it just got weird. And anything at all related to Brian Jacques. Redwall has grown on me.

(( VV but some are still pretty good. And they make me hungry. ))

[Moribundus]

I would agree with the above.

Hmmm i have not gotten arount to them yet. worth it, ey?

[Vaynor]

Redwall has grown on me.
Yes but after you realize they're all basically the same plot with different heroes fighting different bad guys in a slightly different setting off adventuring in a slightly different place it all just gets boring.

[straphael]

If you want SF with realistic science, read Stephen Baxter. His ideas are totally out of this world. Titan, Coalescent, Time/Space Manifold, Evolution are the ones that I've read.

Also love Orson Scott Card's Ender series.

[Nemglan]

Has anyone else read Ian Irvine's The View from the Mirror Quartet?

Australian author, so perhaps not quite so much... but I think they're kinda nifty. One of the few whole series' of books that I own.

[Ego Slayer]

Heeey Nemglan is back! :D

I don't know why but All Quiet On the Western Front was good. The Ice Wall Trilogy and the Inheritence books were really good.
I'm supposed to be reading Capt. Blood (Sabatini) and Longshot (**** Francis) right now.

[Sythara]

Orwell's 1984 has to be one of the best books ever written.

[Akiosama]

My vote right now would have to go to Jennifer Fallon and her Demon Child Trilogy. I think I read all three books in the span of about two weeks - and that's with working 40 hour weeks.

Jacqueline Carey will also need to be mentioned. I'm reading her second series right now (Banewreaker and Godslayer) and her first series Kushiel's Dart/Chosen/Avatar was excellent.

I'm testing out a few authors right now, as well:

Catherine Asaro
Robin Hobb
Roger Zelasny (Chronicles of Amber)
George R.R. Martin
Charles Barkley (Heh. He has a book and it's pretty entertaining.)
Lois McMaster Bujold
Sara Douglass

Yeah, I guess that still counts as a few. I'm surprised my library card hasn't denied me yet. (I'm up to 11 books out right now.) ;D

My 2 yen,

Game on!

Akio

[DarkCorax]

Soldiers Son, ey? I only knew of the Farseer/Trader/Tawny Man books...
i'll have to look into that other one..
oh, and corax, are you also a member of a Diablo II board? becuase a board that I used to frequent had a corax...


No I'm not a member on Diablo II.... Soldier Son is in a completly different setting and is the first of a trillogy (the others have yet to be released...)

1984 is ment to be really good, I need to read it sometime....

[Were-Sandwich]

Lovecraft. So freaking awesome.

Terry Pratchett. So funny, yet thought provoking.

Ursula Le Guin.Beautiful. Just plain Beautiful. I've read the first 3 Earthsea books. A wizard of Earthsea was great, The Tomb of Atuan was good, and The Farthest Shore was freaking awesome. I never really got into Tehanu and I can never get past the first chapter. To anyone who's read it, is it worth perserviering (SP?)

[SMEE]

HP Lovecraft
Frank Herbert
Tolkien
Terry Pratchet
Douglas Adams
James Clavel (his asian saga is awesome, to put it simple)
Lewis Carrol is pretty good as well.

Those are the authors I enjoy the most. :)

[Tarlonniel]

Some classic books and authors not yet mentioned:

Books -
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry
Don Quixote by Cervantes
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Authors -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Agatha Christie
George MacDonald
Oscar Wilde
Emily Dickinson
Alexandre Dumas (Pere)
E. Nesbit

[Shadow_of_Light]

Raymond E. Feist is also good, but I have only read his first books. Of the ones that I have read, Fairy Tale is the best. It is also the only one of his books that doesn't take place in his kliché fantasy world Midkemia, or the not-so-kliché Empire (I have forgotten the world's name, sadly. My memory lasts as long as dead oysters remain fresh i a bacteria bath in Sahara)

Ooh, yes, Feist. The Empire's world is called Kelewan, and you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't read at least *one* of his Midkemia books. I recommend 'Magician', which is the first, IMO the best, and can safely be read as a stand alone book. :) You shouldn't really bag it until you try it.

[Arian]

Has anyone else read Ian Irvine's The View from the Mirror Quartet?

Australian author, so perhaps not quite so much... but I think they're kinda nifty. One of the few whole series' of books that I own.

I'm acquainted with his brother-in-law (his wife's brother), who lent me copies of his books to read a couple of years ago. I kept putting off reading them, and ended up giving them back unread.

On the other hand, another friend of mine, usually a good judge of books, has been reading the compleat Irvine over the last few months and seems likely to keep going till he's read them all. So I've been thinking I should have another look at them myself...

- By the way, what does "Australian author, so perhaps not quite so much... " mean? I hope it means "maybe not as well-known to people outside Australia." The alternative interpretations aren't very civil.

[fluffykins0]

Anything by Orwell, with Down and out in London and Paris being a particular favorite.

Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting and The Acid House were both rollicking good times.

Chuck Palahniuk is always fun, but his prose gets tough to read after reading a lot of it. Very repetitive style, but good overall.

Robert Aspirin, mostly for the Myth series.

Albert Camus is great fun, as is Voltaire. Borges is another favorite, as well as Pirandello (Six Characters in Search of an Author is a great play)

Housman and EE Cummings for poetry, as well as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.

All right that's enough from me for now.

[Nemglan]

Heeey Nemglan is back! :D
I've been lurking around for a while - so many threads to read now that I hardly find the time to post.


I'm acquainted with his brother-in-law (his wife's brother), who lent me copies of his books to read a couple of years ago. I kept putting off reading them, and ended up giving them back unread.
Neat.

I did the same thing with mine. Got the first one for my birthday and stuffed it under my bed for a year or so - until I finally got sick of re-reading The Lord of the Rings over and over and dug it out again.



By the way, what does "Australian author, so perhaps not quite so much... " mean? I hope it means "maybe not as well-known to people outside Australia." The alternative interpretations aren't very civil.
Uhhhh... Yes. What are the other interpretations?

I don't think that distribution into the overseas markets is really very good for Australian books - although I've noticed the better ones usually manage to make it to the UK.

But given the majority of posters here are in the US... 'not so much'.



Oh, and I forgot to mention Cecilia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde Trilogy. Got the first one of those at the same time as the Irvine books, although it stayed shoved under my bed for a bit longer.


As an unrelated side-note: I think I miss my high-school English lessons. In the last three years, my wordy-skills have all fallen apart. *Kaput*

[King_of_Oz]

I've really into the Terry Pratchett books. Also, The Hot Zone is amazing/terrifying.

[Quincunx]

Tehanu pairs with Tombs of Atuan as the other two books in the trilogy are paired, and feels more like an epilogue than a book in its own right due to the diminished scope of the book. It's worth continuing--LeGuin's writing is still exceptional quality--but that odd quality is in the whole book, not just the first chapter.

Along with 1984 and Brave New World, I read We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It's another dystopia, a twisted future, a warning to not let logic rule the world; as an example, a state-sponsored poet writes rhymes praising the immutability of arithmetic. A recent young adult book, The Giver by Lois Lowry, is the most pleasant of dystopias, when consensus and committee settle all, the socialist utopia.

I'll forgive a lack of plot and inconsistency of setting if the characters are vivid enough. Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, even James Joyce in his more lucid moments (Dubliners). . .bah, I'm forgetting one or two. . .

Oh yes, before I forget her also. I fear that Arundhati Roy is going to be a one-book author, and authors have done the nested plots before and since, but the way she dips in and out of one language and another, and the puzzle blocks of English moving about, are joyous. I enjoy watching the wake generated when one language percolates through another.

[Don Beegles]

I want to issue a thank you to this thread for suggesting George R.R. Martin. I just read A Game of Thrones and I'm dying for a copy of A Clash of Kings to come into the library. It was excellent, very well-plotted and charactered, and the continuous interlcae wasn't boring. It didn't keep me on my toes quite so much as it could have, because each chapter didn't necessarily follow the plot of the one before, but I had to stop myself sometimes from reading who the next chapter was about or I would be forced to find out what happens to the Stallion Who Mounts the Earth or Uncle Benjen.

I also liked how the plot was completely unpredictable. You would read and anticipate a typical fantasy plot from a mile away, and then you would finally reach the summit of the mountain of that plot you had been climbing and look out and realize you still had a ways to go until you reached the true peak. It was great.

[Mord]

King_of_Oz mentioned The Hot Zone as amazing and terrifying, and it is, indeed, both (assuming it's the one by Richard Preston). I found it an interesting, can't-put-it-down kind of read, not bad considering that's it's a true story about Ebola.

"The first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I've read in my whole life--and then it gets worse. That's what I keep marveling over: it keeps getting worse. What a remarkable piece of work."
--Stephen King

You will never look a headache and a twinge in the small of your back in the same way again.


Other than that, I've been reading the original "Tarzan" books by E.R Burroughs recently, quite interesting, and reminds me of some things I've forgotten about that series.

I've also recently enjoyed the Count of Monte Cristo - by A. Dumas and some of the original Conan stories as well.

Currently reading "The Angel of Darkness" the book following "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr. Not a book about Aliens btw but about a psychiatrist in New York 1896. Two of the most interesting (and somewhat disturbing) books I've read recently, definitely worth a look over if you enjoy ventures into dark, dense thrillers that feature distressing serial killers.

If you're interested in some of the older works (Dumas, Homer, Verne etc etc) www.litrix.com is an online reading room with a fair bit of stuff available for free.

Feist I enjoy, some of D. Gemmell and D. Eddings and also I. Asimov's Tales of the Black Widowers for interesting puzzles.

Alas... so many authors so little time!

[tis_tom]

Can we talk about non-novel type? I'm not really someone who reads a lot of 'literature' as it were, but I do read quite a lot of books on history and philosophy, and I realise how lame this'll sound but one of the best books I've read on philosophy stuff in the last few weeks is called "buffy and philosophy"

You gotta already be an established fan of the series to appreciate it but it basically argues a lot of philisophical concepts (mostly from the classical period) using example in Buffy!

I can't deny I'm a huge Terry Pratchett fan though, particularly the Granny and Vimes books, (though Rincewind has his moments), I just have so much respect for Granny!

Though I'd like to expand my book reading horizons so I'm gonna try and buy a bunch of these books you guys have said you liked! does anyone have any suggestions for books to read as a sorta 'introduction' to an author? because I'd be glad to hear of them!

[InaVegt]

My favourite book is a school for sorcery by E. rose sabin (No, it's not a cheap harry potter rip off, the only thing they have in common is a school about magic, liked harry potter, loved a school for sorcery)

I also like my unnamed (it's not finished) book

[Caillach]

Pratchett. Good god that man is funny.

Douglas Adams. Mostly all of his bboks, but 'specially The long Dark Tea-Time of the soul The ending makes zero sense but the rest of the book is great.

[Scortius]

All those authors:
Douglas Adams - HitchHiker's Guide (the awesome trilogy of 5 - although very little makes sense).
Tolken - Lord of the Rings (though it is very, very long).
Guy Gavriel Kay - Sailing to Sarantium (i'd never even heard of this guy before, but my friend lent me the book and it was great; although some of his other work is a little long-winded).
Dan Brown - Angels and Demons (if you liked the DaVinci code, this is 100 times better)
Also, sometimes you can make some pretty funny stories just by thinking stuff off the top of your head. I haven't actually tried it with DnD, but I'm sure it would be funny.
And is it just me, or does anyone else who writes as a hobby find that they tend to adopt a bit of the style of whoever they just read? After reading the hitch-hiker's guide, I wrote my own story "A Brief Histroy of the World", and, if I hadn't written it myself, I would swear Douglas Adams had something to do with it.

[Mr._Blinky]

Yes but after you realize they're all basically the same plot with different heroes fighting different bad guys in a slightly different setting off adventuring in a slightly different place it all just gets boring.

THANK YOU!!!!




Ursula Le Guin.Beautiful. Just plain Beautiful. I've read the first 3 Earthsea books. A wizard of Earthsea was great, The Tomb of Atuan was good, and The Farthest Shore was freaking awesome. I never really got into Tehanu and I can never get past the first chapter. To anyone who's read it, is it worth perserviering (SP?)
Actually, I had the same problem. I loved the first three, then read up to about chapter seven of Tehanu, then just stopped. It wasn't bad, it was just, well, boring. I'm sure something exciting happens later. But I'm not sure I want to wade through all of the dullness to get to it.

[Vaynor]

THANK YOU!!!!
Haha, no problem. That's my theory of the Redwall books in one simple sentence. Also, he puts a few random crap songs in their to make it sound witty. :P

[Mr._Blinky]

Haha, no problem. That's my theory of the Redwall books in one simple sentence. Also, he puts a few random crap songs in their to make it sound witty. :P

Yeah, I've said pretty much the exact same thing on at least three other threads here.

[Vaynor]

Redwall is good for someone who's looking for something to fill up their boredom. That's it.

[Bookman]

I think Redwall is enjoyable for a younger set and also it's not always the same story line they tend to vary. The way it stays the same is you have an evil guy and a good guy and that's it but every story needs it. :P Rememebr guys it's also written for the younger set. Oh and if you EVER get a chance to see Brian Jacques speak GO. He's an AMAZING speaker. He came here once and it was AWESOME (I have a book signed by him)

[Vaynor]

I think Redwall is enjoyable for a younger set and also it's not always the same story line they tend to vary. The way it stays the same is you have an evil guy and a good guy and that's it but every story needs it. :P Rememebr guys it's also written for the younger set. Oh and if you EVER get a chance to see Brian Jacques speak GO. He's an AMAZING speaker. He came here once and it was AWESOME (I have a book signed by him)
Yes, but I am "younger". The books are made for people like ages 10-14. Ooh, look at that, I'm 14.

[Bookman]

Ooooooo you're on the outer edge and growing too old :P I saw em as 8-10 maybe 12 :P BAM Also you might be too mature for em now. It varies. I will say I immensley enjoyed them when I was younger but I think the newer ones have gotten boring. (then again I've stopped reading em really) I dunno

[Vaynor]

Yeah, good point. But damn those books make you hungry! :P

I think half the books are spent describing food! :O

[Bookman]

haha if you get a chance and he comes to California try and go see him. I think he talks about why he describes food like that in those (assuming they're all the same) I forget where I heard it but I've heard the reason.......I forget why but that's like his trademark. haha I think they made a Redwall cookbook even and there's TONS of reicepes online from fans.

Back on topic I'm personally a big fan of David Eddings and a ton of others but I'm too lazy to list em right now :P WOOT! The 4th (and final) in his new series comes out in August!

[Vaynor]

haha if you get a chance and he comes to California try and go see him. I think he talks about why he describes food like that in those (assuming they're all the same) I forget where I heard it but I've heard the reason.......I forget why but that's like his trademark. haha I think they made a Redwall cookbook even and there's TONS of reicepes online from fans.

Back on topic I'm personally a big fan of David Eddings and a ton of others but I'm too lazy to list em right now :P WOOT! The 4th (and final) in his new series comes out in August!
Yeah, I've seen the recipe book in a store. *shudders*