Reading List

[Tavar]

So, I've had quite a bit more time to read lately, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, the amount of books that I wish to read is not growing. So, like others before me, I'm asking for suggestions from the forum. I'm up for pretty much anything(assuming it's in English): history, biography, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.

Some of my recent reads(they're from a book club, so they're a bit more limited, genre wise):

Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust
Inda by Sherwood Smith(and others in the series)
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chaing
Leviathan Wakes by Corey, James S.A
insider the Third Reich by Albert Speer
Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks

My too read list:
Among Others by Jo Walton
Absolute Midnight by Clive Barker
Caliban's War by Corey, James S.A

[comicshorse]

'L.A. Confidential' by James Ellroy is IMHO the finest thriller ever written by man
'Weaveworld' by Clive Barker is a the forerunner of Urban Fantasy and still one of the best fantasy novels.
'Anno Dracula' by Kim Newman is a weird alternative world novel and a damn fun story
And everybody should read one James Bond novel personally I'd recommend 'Casino Royale'
Also if you have even a vague interest in history read any of the 'Flashman' novels by George Macdonald Fraser apart from the very first one , 'Flashman'. Its not that its particualrly bad but it is the one where the author is finding the balance between Flashman being a rogue and being likable and he doesn't quite get it right

[SaintRidley]

Blood Music by Greg Bear
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia by Greg Rucka and J. G. Jones
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by Simon Armitage
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney

Those are some recommendations I would make right now.

[GolemsVoice]

House of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski
Something by William Gibson, maybe Neuromancer
Something by Stewart O'Nan, I'd suggest Songs for the Missing or A Prayer for the Dying
If you're into that, maybe some Warhammer 40k? Eisenhorn and Ravenor series by Dan Abnett are a fine read.
All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque
Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatzki brothers
The Witcher Series by Andrzej Sapkowski
Moscow-Petushki by Venedikt Erofeev(known by some other names), if you're feeling curious

I'll think of some more when I have the time

[Black Jester]

I would always, and without hesitation recommend most books by Umberto Eco, especially Foucault's Pendulum. While some of the musings and political stuff shows the books age, it is a great take on pretty much anything related to conspiracy theories.
And personally, I love Eco's mild humor.

[JoshL]

I was actually just about to suggest that Eco! One of my favorite books. The Danielewski is pretty great too, and you can't go wrong with any Clive Barker.

I'll also add Neal Stephenson, start with Cryptonomicon or Snow Crash (not a bad book in the bunch, though Snow Crash is probably the weakest, it's also the one I've read the most because it's just so fun!). If you've ever wanted to try Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet is a good starting place and an astounding book. Harukai Murakami is lots of fun too, maybe The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles being a good first. My favorites are Hard Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World and Sputnik Sweetheart, but I don't think either makes a very good first book (but if you like Murakami, definitely check out Kobo Abe as well).

And, because I always do, I'd recommend Charles de Lint. Dreams Underfoot is a good place to start with his Newford books (it's a short story collection that almost reads like a novel...lots of intertwining threads that run through all the other shorts and novels set there). But if you want to get a feel for his style with something more standalone, Jack of Kinrowan is a lot of fun.

[Deepbluediver]

This topic shows up pretty frequently; maybe we should petition to have a sticky made. What are the rules for that?


But for some suggestions:

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon (classic D&D inspired fantasy, though you don't need to know a thing about D&D to enjoy it)
and by the same author- Remnant Population (sci-fi)

The Crown of Stars is a series that's a lot like Song of Fire and Ice, but with less gratuitous sex, and slightly less grimdark.

The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix has a very unique and involved look at necromancy; beyond it's usual knee-jerkstatus as "Skeletons!blargh-evil!"

The Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud is absolutely hilarious. It's fantasy set in AU London where the government is run by demonspirit-summoning wizards and the American Revolutionis occuring at the same time as Laptops and Airplanes.


What sort of age-range where you looking for in terms of reading material? I know of some other stuff that most libraries lable "Young-adult/teenager", but they're light and easy to read (and generally upbeat). And there's there's stuff like The Wheel of Time which was pretty good but just goes on FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRR.

And then there are things like Gormenghast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gormenghast_(series)), which is supposedly something of a classic, but is the densest righting I have ever read. It is like taking your entire supply of food for the entire year and squishing it down into a 1-foot cube.

[Man on Fire]

I'm more of a fantasy guy and I have a lot of books I could recommend, but I need more information - tell me more about what kind of fantasy you enjoy, what you want from your stories andwhat you like in them?