Recommended reading

[Starla]

Feel free to add your own recommendations, I might read them.

New series

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull


Recent reads:
Thud by Terry Pratchett
Laddie by Gene Stratton Porter


Darn--there was another one but it jumped out of my head when I was checking how to spelle Gene's name.

[Lemur]

Persepolis, and Persepolis 2, by Marjane Satrapi. Apparently there's also being a movie in production.

Also, in before Song of Ice and Fire.

[ChomZ]

anything by douglas adams, I particularly enjoyed Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and Salmon of Doubt

also

Stranger in a Strange Land, The Cat who walks through Walls, and Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein

And finally,

the first three books of the 'Xanth' series by Peirs Anthony and his 'Bio of a Space Tirant' Trillogy

[Olorin]

One of my favorite series is the Realm of the Elderlings (http://www.robinhobb.com/books-main.html), by Robin Hobb, which is actually a series of 3 trilogies set in the same world. The Farseer trilogy, The Liveship Traders trilogy and the Tawny Man trilogy.
It's fantasy, but original and believable. The characters in her books are very deep and memorable, even some of the 'bad guys'.

Right now I'm reading The Great Hunt, the second Wheel of Time book by Robert Jordan. So far, I'm enjoying it more than the first book, which was ok, but not great in my opinion.

Olorin

[wellington]

Just finished Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. It is excellent.

[Attilargh]

Well, here's a few:

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.
Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana.
The Deathgate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
American Gods, Neverwhere and any Sandman you can get your hands on by Neil Gaiman.
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
Anything by Terry Pratchett.
The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. (Star Wars)
Legend and The King Beyond the Gate (and probably other Drenai books I haven't read) by David Gemmell.
The Serpentwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist.

[LCR]

"Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by J.S. Foer (Magical realism? Hard to categorize, but extremely well written)
"Indecision" by Benjamin Kunkel (Just a fun book about someone that can't make decisions and tries to solve his problem with meds)
"Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann (epic about a family, great book)
"The World According to Garp" by John Irving (another "epic", well written)
"Moon Palace" by Paul Auster (one of the most magical books I've ever read)
"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller (classic Anti-War-satire)
"Nathan the Wise" by Gotthold E. Lessing (a play about the three big monotheistic religions and religious understanding in general - no, it's not boring ...)
"Another Bull**** Night in Suckcity" by Nick Flynn (autobiographical story about the narrator's homeless father, very interesting style)

[Archonic Energy]

"Foundation" by Issac Asimov... followed by the rest of the series (it was damn inconvient that he died!)

"Blood Music" by Greg Bear

"The Da V..." *off screen gunshot*

[LCR]

Hey, I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code ... as long as you haven't read anything else by Dan Brown, it's a nice book.

[Dhavaer]

The Obernewtyn Chronicles, by Isobelle Carmody. Obernewtyn, Farseekers, Ashling and The Keeping Place.

[Kitya]

Anything by Mercedes Lackey or Anne McCaffrey... altho I admit, I read the Planet Pirates series the most from McCaffrey, and her Rowan Series.

I've been reading poker strategy books lately so I'm probly not the best person to ask for book titles right now. *chuckles*

[ZombieRockStar]

Hey, I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code ... as long as you haven't read anything else by Dan Brown, it's a nice book.


No, it isn't. I read it first without reading anything else by that hack and nearly freaking gagged. Read The Crying of Lot 49. It was everything The Da Vinci Code thought it was, just without trying to be a real conspiracy theory. That, and Pynchon actually knows how to freaking write.

Or, put simply, a good version of The Da Vinci Code on acid.

[Jaguira]

The Once and Future King by T.H. White. I don't care how many times I recomend or read this book; it's purely amazing. The Book of Merlyn, also by T.H. White, is the intended "fifth" book and finishes it off nicely. I never quite understood why they didn't put it in with the other four... Oh well.

[LCR]

No, it isn't. I read it first without reading anything else by that hack and nearly freaking gagged. Read The Crying of Lot 49. It was everything The Da Vinci Code thought it was, just without trying to be a real conspiracy theory. That, and Pynchon actually knows how to freaking write.

Or, put simply, a good version of The Da Vinci Code on acid.

Yeah, okay, whatever. I thought it was nice.

[Jorkens]

No, it isn't. I read it first without reading anything else by that hack and nearly freaking gagged. Read The Crying of Lot 49. It was everything The Da Vinci Code thought it was, just without trying to be a real conspiracy theory. That, and Pynchon actually knows how to freaking write.

Or, put simply, a good version of The Da Vinci Code on acid.
Woo, Pynchon! He is fantastic!

Other good books to read instead of The Da Vinci Code: (:smalltongue:)
- Bob Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - Illuminatus! The ultimate conspiracy book, really. The Illuminati are an 18th century german conspiracy who control the US government, the Black Panthers, the music industry (this is the reason most music is so boring these days), the number of alligators in the New York sewer system and the mafia. Or are they? Maybe they're a group of heretics who survived the fall of Atlantis. Maybe they're satanists. Maybe they're from venus? Who's telling the truth? Who's spying on whom for whom? Why is there a cannabis leaf on the dollar bill? Who really did shoot JFK?

It's all very confusing (not least because it jumps back and forth between different narrators and different timestreams with absolutely no warning and intentionally has so many strands of conspiracy that it's more or less impossible to keep track of them) and very funny.

- Umberto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum. It's basically what DaVinci Code would be like if it had been written by a professor of semiotics. Good story, good characters, and some ridiculously deep ideas thrown in for good measure. Then read The Name of the Rose - his medieval detective story taking in Sherlock Holmes references, medieval theology and a few Big Ideas about rationalism.

- anything by John Le Carre, Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett etc - no real conspiracy theory connection, just really well written thrillers.

[MandibleBones]

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (most of his other stuff has been mentioned - and I definitely second Good Omens)
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (Don't bother with the rest of the series).

[Dhavaer]

The Cruicible, by Sara Douglass. Three books, The Nameless Day, The Wounded Hawk and The Crippled Angel. Set in Christendom in the 1300s, possibly best described as 'historical fantasy'. Just don't expect overmuch historical accuracy.

[JabberwockySupafly]

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (most of his other stuff has been mentioned *SNIP*.


Most of his stuff? Not even close! Not even half of his works have been mentioned. Anything mentioned by Neil Gaiman so far is a good read, but let's not forget...


In Graphic Novels (some of these will be repeated in actual books because they are in both formats): The Books of Magic, The Last Temptation, 1602, The Eternals, Murder Mysteries, Neverwhere, Stardust, Mr.Punch, Harlequin Valentine, Black Orchid, his stint on Miracle Man, and Creatures of the Night.

In Novel or short-story collections you have: American Gods, Neverwhere (yes, novel, graphic novel, and it was originally a british miniseries), Stardust (also made into a movie, out this August/September), Fragile Things (short story collection), Anansi Boys, Coraline (also being made into a movie), and Smoke & Mirrors (another short story comp.).

In my opinion as a massive Neil Gaiman fanboy, any and all of these are good reads. Now, onto other authors.


If you're looking for fantasy, I don't read much of it outside of the graphic novel department or the aforementioned Mr. Gaiman or Mr. Pratchett. I read a lot of...odd stuff. but, I did really like the Dreaming Dark Trilogy by Keith Baker.

My suggestions would be:

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana - Umbert Eco

Ulysses - James Joyce

The Life of Pi - Yann Martel

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

The Collected Works of Allen Ginsberg

The English Poems of John Milton

Brain Droppings, Napalm & Silly Putty, and When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? - all three are by George Carlin (not for the easily offended)


Anything written by Philip K. Di.ck (it censors out the name of one our greatest sci-fi authors... depressing). Especially Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep; A Scanner Darkly; Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said; Deus Irae; and The Divine Invasion

[Frosty Flake]

I'm currently reading The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson and it's just magnificent... Watership Down by Richard Adams is brilliant and Wine of Satan by Laverne Gay is a good historical fiction.

[wombat31]

Hmm lets see.

1. The Belgaird/Mallorian by David Eddings
2. The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss, Its his first novel and in my opion one of the best fantasy novels i have ever read
3. The dresden files by Jim butcher
4. The Anita Blake Vampire hunter series by Laurell K Hamilton

[Green Bean]

I just finished (re)reading A Song of Ice and Fire, and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a fantasy series, except it's very low-magic, and it's everything epic fantasy should be. Some adult themes.

And as always, I must recommend anything by Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman. Of course, if you're having trouble picking between them, read Good Omens, a collaboration between them that shows off both authors' mad writing chops.

[MandibleBones]

Neverwhere (yes, novel, graphic novel, and it was originally a british miniseries)

I'm familiar with it, yes - I have all three (book, graphic novel and miniseries) sitting in front of me. And I've read everything else you mentioned as well, and heartily recommend it.

My mistake, I thought more had been mentioned (also wasn't thinking of short story collections, nor graphic novels).

[Serpentine]

Watership Down by Richard Adams is brilliant
I've never read that (really should sometime), but another one by him, Plague Dogs, is very good (and I think less depressing).
Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams is pretty weird but very well done - fantasy adventure from the point of view of cats.
Also by Tad Williams is perhaps my favourite fantasy series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.
Hmm what else... Pride and Prejudice really is very good, much better than I expected it to be. Annnd World Zero Minus is a nice messed-up headscrew of a sci-fi anthology.

[PlatinumJester]

Across the Nightingale Floor and it's sequels. It has ninjas and katanas and floors without being stupid. Read it.

[Attilargh]

The Belgaird/Mallorian by David Eddings
Eh, I prefer the Elenium-Tamuli series, mainly because I really dislike the Farm Boy Hero protagonist and his mentally unstable not-girlfriend. Matter of taste really, as the plot and part of the supporting cast is pretty much the same.

Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress, set in the same world as the Belgariad and Malloreon were pretty good, though. (Both as books and doorstops.)

Of Eddings's other works, The Redemption of Althalus is a readable book as well as a good doorstop, if one doesn't mind a plot armour so thick it'd stop a cruise missile. Again, similar characters to Eddings's previous works.

The Dreamers has child gods fighting Something Unspeakable that came from the desert. Pink dolphins, too. I don't recommend it to anyone.

[factotum]

Anything from Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series.

[Kitya]

*mutters evil thoughts about Jorkens* You didn't say the Illuminatus! was a trilogy!!! Good thing B&N has them compiled into one big book!

[Gaelbert]

Other good books to read instead of The Da Vinci Code: (:smalltongue:)
- Bob Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - Illuminatus! The ultimate conspiracy book, really. The Illuminati are an 18th century german conspiracy who control the US government, the Black Panthers, the music industry (this is the reason most music is so boring these days), the number of alligators in the New York sewer system and the mafia. Or are they? Maybe they're a group of heretics who survived the fall of Atlantis. Maybe they're satanists. Maybe they're from venus? Who's telling the truth? Who's spying on whom for whom? Why is there a cannabis leaf on the dollar bill? Who really did shoot JFK?

It's all very confusing (not least because it jumps back and forth between different narrators and different timestreams with absolutely no warning and intentionally has so many strands of conspiracy that it's more or less impossible to keep track of them) and very funny.

I'm reading that series right now, I'm about halfway through with it all. At first, it was so bizarre that it was disconcerting to me, but now I seem to understand most of it. Its a good read.

[Swedish chef]

Any mystery stories written by Tony Hillerman (The Leaphorn and Chee series) is recommended reading. Especially if you love mysteries and detectivestories.

I also recomend Dorothy Sayers books about Lord Peter Wimsy.

Warhammer 40K novels written by Dan Abnett (Gaunts Ghosts and Eisenhorn)

And ofcourse: Sherlock Holmes

[Starla]

Oh I remembered the other book:

State of Fear by Micheal Crichton

If anyone else has read it, I wonder what your thoughts on global warming are before and now?

[Jorkens]

I also recomend Dorothy Sayers books about Lord Peter Wimsy.
Yes! Fantastic stuff. I love the way that he starts out as a kind of Bertie Wooster who solves crimes and gradually becomes a deeper and more complex character as she gets more into writing him.

But how can you not like a detective who nearly blows his cover while working undercover at an advertising agency when he gets hit on the funnybone during a staff cricket match and starts playing his natural game and knocking the bowlers around the park, and one of the senior partners recognises his very characteristic cover drive from an Eton-Harrow match several decades ago...

It's really well written stuff too.

[Jauranna]

Try "Mistborn: The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson. It's not in paperback until July 28th, but it is definitely worth getting.

The world this story is set in came about because of a very simple question. What happens if the epic hero fails? Or worse, destroys the evil but REPLACES it? (Think of Lord of the Rings, when Galadriel says that if she had the One Ring, there would be a Dark Queen, and all would love and fear her, yada yada) So the world has been under the power of the Lord Ruler for a thousand years. He destroyed The Deepness, but rules himself through terror. The sky is red, plants barely grow, and most of the population are slaves. Attempts at rebellion have failed miserably, and no one can see an end in sight. But then a slave with powers only the aristocracy should have schemes up a plan to take the Lord Ruler down in a different way. Basically, the author wanted to try something a little like "Ocean's 11" in a fantasy setting. The main character and a group of other men who have used their powers in the past for thievery, put into motion a plan with multiple, interlocking parts, designed to cause strife among the aristocracy, lure away the Lord Ruler's main troops, cut off his money supply, and bring him down. I was on the edge of my seat as it all fell together. And just like Ocean's 11, there are surprise twists and bits you never saw coming. It's my new favorite fantasy book. And while you're waiting for it to come out in paperback, you could get his first book, Elantris, which is also excellent.

[Starla]

Mistborn sounds good. Hey that is this month. I will look into it. Thanks.

I've wanted to read the Once and Future King since I saw "Freak the Mighty" I will have to check that out next chance I get.

I have read every Terry Pratchett the library has since the last time I asked for good books. I liked a lot of them better than Good Omens. I can't decide who is more attractive to me, Sam Vimes or Captain Carrot. I know Carrot is good looking and the epitome of all that is naively good, but I also like Vimes because he is so street-smart and still full of integrity. Who is your favorite character?

By the way Thud was the most recently published book by Terry Pratchett that the library has. I loved the fatherly side of Vimes that was portrayed in that book.

[Serpentine]

Hey, I just finished reading Thud! I like that my favourite bit occured entirely within Vimes' head...:smallbiggrin:

[smith]

A really good series of books is called the Bartimaeus Trilogy (might have spelt t wrong) The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate. They're really good books, that certainly stand on the top of my list for some of the best fantasy books i've read in a long time. There are so many fantasy stories that just bite off of Tolkien.

[Starla]

Hey, I just finished reading Thud! I like that my favourite bit occured entirely within Vimes' head...:smallbiggrin:

That was my favorite part too. I was laughing sooo hard! My second favorite part was his other version of the book. Bugrit!

[jazz1m]

Tadd Williams - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Otherland
Richard Matheson - I am Legend
Robert Heinlen - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash
Phillip Pullman - His Dark Materials Trilogy
John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany

For philosophers/mystics
Eugene D'Aquili, and Vince Rause - Why God Won't Go Away
Rumi - The Essential Rumi

For people interested in society
Mitchell Duneier - Sidewalk (study of homeless and panhandlers of NYC)
Don Kulick - Travesti (study of transvestites in Brazil)
Anne Fadiman - The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Hmong culture and the apparent problems between treating an ill child in a traditional and modern society)
Mimi Nichter - Fat Talk (study of high school girls and their body image)

[Attilargh]

A really good series of books is called the Bartimaeus Trilogy (might have spelt t wrong) The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate. They're really good books, that certainly stand on the top of my list for some of the best fantasy books i've read in a long time. There are so many fantasy stories that just bite off of Tolkien.
I second that. They're exceptionally good, especially for books one can find from the "young readers'" section. (At least in my library they defile those books by placing them on the same shelf with Eragon.)

[reorith]

i second jazz1m's recommendation of i am legend.

[slipnslide]

oooh i just saw the trailer for that and have to admit i am intrigued. im gonna check the book out.

[Umbral_Arcanist]

Just finished Wicked and Son of a Witch this weekend, they are both pretty good, i think i liked Wicked more, but fairly odd and thus were a little hard to get into at first. I really liked the protagonists/thoughts and ideas though.

[TSGames]

Just finished Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. It is excellent.

I too read this book. I think there was enough Coke* consumed during the writing to kill at least three horses. As to how Vonnegut survived, I can only wonder.


Really, I haven't read any good fiction in a long time, but I can recommend about anything written by Orson Scott Card.




*not the "cola" kind.

[ForzaFiori]

Piers Anthony's Xanth series is excellent, anything by David Gemmell, especially the Waylander Saga and the Druss the Legand Saga. Robert Asprin and Peter J. Hecks' Phule series, L. E. Modesitt Jr's Saga of Recluce, Raymon E. Feist's Midkemia books (there are several different groups of Saga's, and i dont know their names unfortuanatly), Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures, any of Douglas Adam's books.

[jazz1m]

Just finished Wicked and Son of a Witch this weekend, they are both pretty good, i think i liked Wicked more, but fairly odd and thus were a little hard to get into at first. I really liked the protagonists/thoughts and ideas though.

Wicked is really good, check out Maguire's other books too - Confessions of an ugly step sister (cinderella), mirror mirror(snow white), and lost(ebeneezer scrooge/christmas carol). Yeah I wasn't very impressed with son of a witch, although mirror mirror is probably my least favorite out of all of his books with wicked and confessions my favorite. Lost is completely different from all the other books he's written, nice breath of fresh air.

To slipnslide, I think you should watch the movie first and read the book, I usually find if I read the book and watch the movie, the movie always disappoints. But it is a great book. The movie looks interesting and seems *loosely* based on the book from what I saw of the previews.

Other books:
Bluebeard - Vonnegut (actually anything vonnegut)
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
Another Fine Myth - Robert Asprin (the first one is by far the best in the series) ninja'd!
The Curious Incident of a Dog at Night-time - Mark Haddon
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Rule of the Bone - Russell Banks

More later

[talsine]

Stranger in a Strange Land, The Cat who walks through Walls, and Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein

quoted for truth, even if Car is a bit slow.

i would also suggest "The Forever War" by by Joe Halderman. You should read it with Starship Troopers, they go very well together, even if they have completely different feels.

Other good stuff includes anything by Robin Hobb (mentioned previously, i know), the Bazil Brokentail series by Christopher Rowley, and everything ever written by Lovecraft.

[Shoyliguad]

John Marco is an amazing author, he wrote two amazing trilogies that I have read including the Jackal of Nar trilogy and the Eye's of God trilogy. Great books, both trilogies are filled with political intrigue and military campaigns.

[Jerthanis]

The Acts of Caine books by Matthew Woodring Stover are amazing, Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle, with Caine Black Knife due out next year. In a dark cyberpunk societal pit of a world, with a gritty, larger than life fantasy world on top of it, one guy has to fight two worlds full of people, including gods, gunning for him and everything he holds dear, and somehow he's gotta come out on top even though all he's got are some knives and his wits... Amazing climaxes in both books, and some truly phenomenal fight scenes in both as well. Fight scenes that blow your socks off are MWS's stock and trade.

Also, Neuromancer by What's-his-face Mc-father-of-cyberpunk (William Gibson)... I've heard it's the first in a trilogy, but I've never seen any copies of the other two in the series.

Also, Phillip K. ****'s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was nice, and I really liked the movie of A Scanner Darkly, so the book is probably that, but better.

I swear I read fantasy books too... I just can't think of any worth mentioning right now.

[O.T.R]

After 3 years of a literature course, reading and I are done for a long, long time. The band has broken up.

Any Pratchett and Gaiman fans might enjoy Angela Carter (less obviously funny but more literary predecessor) if you stomach her need to beat you over the head with her vocabulary.

John Kennedy Toole- Confederacy of Dunces
(get of your **** if you haven't read this one)
Martin Amis- Money
Flann O'Brien- The Third Policeman
Vladimir Nabokov- Pale Fire

[ArchivesNinja]

. . . Umberto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum. It's basically what DaVinci Code would be like if it had been written by a professor of semiotics. Good story, good characters, and some ridiculously deep ideas thrown in for good measure. Then read The Name of the Rose - his medieval detective story taking in Sherlock Holmes references, medieval theology and a few Big Ideas about rationalism.

Eco seems to enjoy impressing his reader with his ability to use remarkable vocabulary within insanely complex sentence structure, but if you can bear with him he'll tell you a great story. The end of Name of the Rose left me flat out stunned.

I also recommend Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch, Martin Amis' Time's Arrow, Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano, and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. Charles Williams' Decent into Hell is my favorite, but it's kinda trippy and not everyone I've recommended it to liked it.

[Jorkens]

Flann O'Brien- The Third Policeman
Woohoo, someone else gets it!

I've just finished reading, and would strongly recommend, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe. It's a fairly kitchen sink thing about the highs (drinking a lot, seducing married women, fishing) and lows (work, national service) of life for a young working class man in fifties Britain. It's quite morally ambiguous - the central character is a bit of a bastard in a lot of ways, but the book sets out simply to present him and his world as they are rather than explicitly to pass judgement on them. And because of that, and the quality of the writing and the characterization, it's very very compelling.

[Jimorian]

For fantasy fans, I have 3 authors to give a try (with a caveat and a brag that they are also friends of mine, but it's really good stuff on its own merits).

If you like George RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series, you'd probably really like the Winds of the Forelands series by David B. Coe. The same kind of intricate court intrigue played out over a vast landscape with one big difference.... it's FINISHED. :smallwink: The first book of 5 is Rules of Ascension.

Terry McGarry has her Eiden Myr trilogy of Illumination, The Binder's Road, and Triad. Terry's writing is exquisite, with a lyrical quality that draws you through the world. (My SN comes from a chat typo of my name that she snabbed to use as a character name in these books :smallsmile: )

Finally, a standalone fantasy novel (yes, they still do make those) by Fiona Avery: The Crown Rose. Based on historical elements of the 13th-century french monarchy, where Princess Isobel befriends a mysterious and handsome stranger with roots in the holy land. Fiona has written for comics, TV, radio plays, and short stories, so is probably the most potent multi-format writer going after Neil Gaiman.

What I particularly like about all of these is that it's the characters that make the stories come alive, so I hope you like. :smallbiggrin:

[blackout]

:smallsmile: I'd recommend the entire Halo novel series. Their good reads.