Books

[quote]

What books are you reading at the moment? I'm out and I need suggestions.
I finished the Stieg Larsson trilogy recently; absolutely amazing. I'd suggest it to anyone. Conn Iggulden is also good, I do love a bit of adventure.

At the mo I'm skim-reading 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre. Pretty interesting.

 

[Nova]

What books are you reading at the moment? I'm out and I need suggestions.
I finished the Stieg Larsson trilogy recently; absolutely amazing. I'd suggest it to anyone. Conn Iggulden is also good, I do love a bit of adventure.

At the mo I'm skim-reading 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre. Pretty interesting.

Funny, I'm about to finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I have the next one here sitting next to me for when I do.

Then, after the trilogy I want to get the Necromicon - a collection of stories by HP Lovecraft.

EDIT: If you like adventure, you might like my favourite book, Papillon. It's a supposedly true story about a man who escapes from a prison colony in france and does some pretty amazing stuff.

 

[Orion4874]

I'm dying to get my hands on a copy of Metro 2033. Unfortunately, it's not available in the states yet. Guess I'll have to go on Amazon and order it from the U.K. They made a video game adaptation of it but the book is supposed to be really good.

 

[mali]

Right now I'm reading Gerald's Game by Stephen King.

 

[quote]

Yeah Nova, it really is a great series. Apparently the author was going to write a fourth book. Then he died .
Thanks for the Papillon suggestion, looks good, I think I'll order it.

Right now I'm reading Gerald's Game by Stephen King.

I read The Running Man by him a while ago. A good book, if not a tad depressing.

 

[Alex.]

A mix of Gogol stories at the moment

 

[mali]

I read The Running Man by him a while ago. A good book, if not a tad depressing.

The Dark Tower series is a must read in my opinion.

edit: Changed link

 

[dflemstr]

I don't like Stieg Larsson; we, not surprisingly, get quite a lot of books from him here in Sweden.

Anyways, here are my personal top lists (off the top of my head - I read quite a lot so I might have forgotten something):

Must reads - fantasy:
The Wheel of Time
Extremely long (4 054 598 words on 11 308 pages in 14 volumes - and still counting), epic story, huge world, interesting concept (Eastern meets western culture). Not very innovating.

The Kingkiller Chronicle
This series isn't close to being done yet so I won't comment on it. Great first two books, however.

The Farseer Trilogy
Unique, offers a new and more intimate perspective of things uncommon in fantasy novels. Loses its pace a little in the last novel.

Discworld
Deep story, well-thought-out world, weird humor, doesn't make a lot of sense. Eerily similar to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Must reads - science fiction:
Foundation series
Just mindblowing at times, and very philosophically relevant. Deals with the future of the human civilization. 'Nuff said, read it.

1984
Pioneering, very down-to-the-metal, classic.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Entertaining, strange humor, but very chaotic. Based on a radio program, so the story is very ad-hoc.

 

[Javacat]

I've got to recommend the last book I finished reading. It's Lud-In-The_Mist by Hope Mirrlees. It's a pre-Tolkien High Fantasy novel and is awesome. If you are in to fantasy novels then I seriously recommend reading it. It's one of the best fantasy books I've read and after reading this I can see how heavily Tolkien has inspired all fantasy novels since.

It's just a real shame that Hope didn't write any other fantasy books after this, as she could have been a true legend in the genre, instead of the somewhat forgotten writer that she has become. Can't really blame her though, she had a pretty cool life and I suspect didn't have any regrets about not writing more





Edit: Oh, and although I've not finished it, I've been reading the complete works of Edger Alan Poe. Great author. His writing is a little 'intense' so I've taken a little break from his things, but I'm dying to finish reading his works. After finishing him I'm hoping to start reading Lovecrafts life works

 

[gruso]

If you haven't read any Neal Stephenson, sort your life out. Naturally you'll start with Snow Crash. I've had the The Baroque Cycle sitting here for a while, but I need to find the time. It's immense.

 

[dflemstr]

Neal Stephenson... Can only remember reading Cryptonomicon, and I wasn't impressed. I'll look into reading some of his other works.

 

[fischju2000]

I bought a nook a couple of weeks ago, I've gone through a fair number of novels since then. In the middle of Metro 2033 right now, before that Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Jurassic Park/The Lost World (no matter what scientists say, to me velociraptors will always be 5' tall scaly grey predators who chase kids through kitchens http://www.fiercefoodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Jurassic_Park_raptors.jpg ), Shit My Dad Says, and 4 of the Harry Potter books...and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Highly recommended. On it I have Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller, Steven King's Under The Dome, Sebastian Junger's War, and a dozen classics I really need to get to.

 

[gruso]

Neal Stephenson... Can only remember reading Cryptonomicon, and I wasn't impressed. I'll look into reading some of his other works.

I definitely recommend Snow Crash if nothing else. It's a seminal work and not just an awesome read, but an important one. The guy invented the future.

 

[fischju2000]

Neal Stephenson... Can only remember reading Cryptonomicon, and I wasn't impressed. I'll look into reading some of his other works.

I definitely recommend Snow Crash if nothing else. It's a seminal work and not just an awesome read, but an important one. The guy invented the future.

Whaaaat? Try Burning Chrome published 1986 (the collection) and Neuromancer published 1984 by the seminal (in the genre of science fiction and cyberpunk) author William Gibson.

 

[gruso]

It's not a competition.

 

[gp32rich]

I recently got into Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes books and the Eyre Affair series ain't half bad either. Comic in the vein of H2G2 but not so scifi.

Rob Grant (half of the writing team for Red Dwarf) also has a couple of books out. Incomp(e)tence is really laugh out loud good. Not tried the other .. yet.

If you like metaphysical wierd, try Stephen Hall's Raw Shark Text - amusingly weird!


+1's also to Wheel of Time. Very long, typically Fantasy but very engaging.

 

[klikklak]

+1 for both Stephenson and Gibson.

For newer stuff, try Charles Stross! Accelerando and sequels are brilliant, absolutely mindblowingly brilliant.

Also I'm a bit surprised Iain M. Banks hasn't been mentioned yet, the Culture series is one of the few future utopias I'd like to live in.

 

[fishybawb]

The Dark Tower series is a must read in my opinion.

+lots!

An awesome series of books, even if you don't like everything else Stephen King's written, give it a try, it'll surprise you. I could happily lose a week or three reading them

My favourite book of all time has to be Joseph Heller's Catch-22. Surreal, laugh out loud funny in places, brutally dark in others, it's a must read.

 

[Tom`]

The Kingkiller Chronicle
This series isn't close to being done yet so I won't comment on it. Great first two books, however.

First two books? I think you've got your time machine misaligned, since the second book isn't even finished (and won't come out until next year)...
I agree with the recommendation, though.

I'll add to the above the Dragaera series, by Steven Brust, and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books.

For Charles Stross, I think the Laundry series is his best, plus Halting State.

Also Roger Zelazny: start with the Amber Chronicles.

Right now I'm reading A Mighty Fortress by David Weber.

I recently got into Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes books and the Eyre Affair series ain't half bad either. Comic in the vein of H2G2 but not so scifi.

Those are pretty good, but IMO none of the sequels are quite as good as The Eyre Affair. I still re-read them pretty frequently, though.

If you like metaphysical wierd, try Stephen Hall's Raw Shark Text - amusingly weird!

I agree with this. Very weird indeed, but fun. In a weird way.

+1's also to Wheel of Time. Very long, typically Fantasy but very engaging.

It's a very, very huge, detailed series that probably requires a large time commitment. Some people feel that it drags around the tenth book, Crossroads of Twilight. It picks up again in Knife of Dreams, though. Unfortunately, author Robert Jordan died in 2007. Fortunately, he left enormous amounts of notes behind, as well as quite a bit of finished writing, so Brandon Sanderson is finishing the series. Sanderson is a very fine author in his own right; I'll add his Mistborn trilogy to these recommendations.

Also, the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, just about anything by Vernor Vinge (but particularly A Fire Upon the Deep and Rainbows End).

 

[dflemstr]

The Kingkiller Chronicle
This series isn't close to being done yet so I won't comment on it. Great first two books, however.

First two books? I think you've got your time machine misaligned, since the second book isn't even finished (and won't come out until next year)...
I agree with the recommendation, though.

Well, I thought like this:

• I like the Kingkiller Chronicle
• I like it so much that I've read every book in the series.
• I can't remember how many books that is, because it was such a long time ago that I read it.
• *quick glance at Wikipedia* OK, two books are listed, so I must've read 'em both.

So my laziness to read Wiki articles has had its revenge once more.